From 1971 to 1973 Ryu's R. M. A. T. was applied to examination of leptospiral antibodies in house and stray dogs. The average positive rate of antibody, against
Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae in three cities of the Shikoku region was 12.2%. The sera of 66 of 250 stray dogs (25.4%) in Takamatsu-shi were positive against
L.
icterohaemorrhagiae and L. canicola, while 10 stray dogs in Matsuyama-shi were negative against both species.
Of 90 house and 20 stray dogs, one house dog was positive against
L.
australis A, 2 house 3 stray dogs were positive against L. pyrogenes in addition to
L.
icterohaemorrhagiae and
L.
canicola. None were positive against
L.
autumnalis,
L.
hebdomadis, and
L.
grippotyphosa.
The positive rate was higher in house male dogs (17.7%) than in house bitches (6.8%) and in stray male dogs (30.5%) than in bitches in stray bitches (21.2%). Only one of 410 vaccinated house dogs showed a positive reaction. The positive rate was much higher in house dogs under 6 years old than in those over 6 years old. It was the lowest in summer and the highest in winter.
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