The Isolation and Seroprevalence of Antibodies Against Leptospira in Mus caroli and M. musculus yonakunii on Okinawa Island

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence of seropositivity and the isolation of Leptospira from Mus caroli and M. musculus yonakunii. The observed overall seroprevalence of antibody in Mus spp. was 21.7% (n=83) with 20.3% (n=77) and 33.3% (n=6) in M. caroli and M.m.yonakunii, respectively. The serovars were autumnaris, canicola, castellinis, grippotyphosa, javanica and rachmati. Leptospira were isolated from two individuals of M. caroli. These samples were identified as serotype castellonis using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) and flaB-PCR. On Okinawa Island, serovar castellonis has been isolated only from humans and M. caroli, but never from other animals. On Okinawa Island, M. caroli is the main reservoir of serovar castellonis infection in human.