Molecular epidemiology of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in the straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) migrating to Zambia from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Ogawa Hirohito; Koizumi Nobuo; Ohnuma Aiko; Mutemwa Alisheke; Hang'ombe M. Bernard; Mweene S. Aaron; Takada Ayato; Sugimoto Chihiro; Suzuki Yasuhiko; Kida Hiroshi; Sawa Hirofumi

Title	en Molecular epidemiology of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in the straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) migrating to Zambia from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Creator	en Ogawa, Hirohito NRID 1000080455237 en Koizumi, Nobuo NRID 1000010333361 en Ohnuma, Aiko en Mutemwa, Alisheke en Hang'ombe, M. Bernard en Mweene, S. Aaron en Takada, Ayato NRID 1000010292062 en Sugimoto, Chihiro NRID 1000090231373 en Suzuki, Yasuhiko NRID 1000090206540 en Kida, Hiroshi NRID 1000010109506 en Sawa, Hirofumi NRID 1000030292006
Accessrights	metadata only access
Rights	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ en Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Subject	Other en Leptospira Other en Fruit bat Other en Eidolon helvum Other en Zambia Other en Pathogenic NDC 649
Description	Abstract en The role played by bats as a potential source of transmission of Leptospira spp. to humans is poorly understood, despite various pathogenic Leptospira spp. being identified in these mammals. Here, we investigated the prevalence and diversity of pathogenic Leptospira spp. that infect the straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum). We captured this bat species, which is widely distributed in Africa, in Zambia during 2008–2013. We detected the flagellin B gene (flaB) from pathogenic Leptospira spp. in kidney samples from 79 of 529 E. helvum (14.9%) bats. Phylogenetic analysis of 70 flaB fragments amplified from E. helvum samples and previously reported sequences, revealed that 12 of the fragments grouped with Leptospira borgpetersenii and Leptospira kirschneri; however, the remaining 58 flaB fragments appeared not to be associated with any reported species. Additionally, the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (rrs) amplified from 27 randomly chosen flaB-positive samples was compared with previously reported sequences, including bat-derived Leptospira spp. All 27 rrs fragments clustered into a pathogenic group. Eight fragments were located in unique branches, the other 19 fragments were closely related to Leptospira spp. detected in bats. These results show that rrs sequences in bats are genetically related to each other without regional variation, suggesting that Leptospira are evolutionarily well-adapted to bats and have uniquely evolved in the bat population. Our study indicates that pathogenic Leptospira spp. in E. helvum in Zambia have unique genotypes.
Publisher	en Elsevier
Date	Issued2015-06
Language	eng
Resource Type	journal article
Version Type	NA
Identifier	HDL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/75551
Relation	isIdenticalTo DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2015.03.013 PMID 25791930
Journal	PISSN 1567-1348 EISSN 1567-7257 NCID AA11644088 en Infection, Genetics and Evolution Volume Number32 Page Start143 Page End147
Oaidate	2023-07-26