Prevalence of leptospirosis in livestock, rodents, and shrews in Kilwa district of Southern Tanzania

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Date

2024-04

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Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a globally resurgent zoonotic disease that affects both humans and animals, with occurrences widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Tanzania, located in Sub-Saharan Africa, is among the tropical countries grappling with the burden of leptospirosis in both human and animal populations. Following the reporting of 20 confirmed symptomatic cases and 3 deaths, the Tanzanian Ministry of Health (MoH) declared the outbreak of leptospirosis on July 5, 2022. The main objective of this cross- section study was to determine the prevalence of leptospirosis by using the Microscopic Agglutination Test in Rodents, shrews and livestock (Cattle, Goats, and Sheep) in Kilwa district of southern Tanzania. Blood samples were collected from 100cattle, 120goats, 20 sheep and 202 small mammals (Rodents and shrews) in Kilwa district in selected villages for decanting sera. The serum samples harvested were tested against five Leptospira live antigens to detect Leptospira antibodies through Microscopic Agglutination Tests. In this study, five leptospiral antigens that were reported in Tanzania were employed such as Sokoine, Pomona, Hebdomadis, Lora, and Grippotyphosa. The overall prevalence of leptospirosis in cattle was 26%=95%CI=0.1774-0.3573, in goats was 27.5%=95%CI=0.1975- 0.3640, in sheep was 30%=95%CI=0.1189-0.5428 .and prevalence of small mammals was 14.36%=95%CI=0.0983-0. 1996. Among the small mammals, 61.2% of the sample tested positive for leptospiral serovars and were from Mastomys natalensis, making it a more prevalent species. Serovars Sokoine was more prevalent than all tested serovars. Most of the antibody titers obtained ranged from 1:20 to 1:80, suggesting prolonged infection. Livestock demonstrated also a high prevalence of leptospirosis with serovar Sokoine being the most prevalent serovar. Some of the leptospirosis antibodies were low, suggesting chronic infection, but others tested with high titers, which suggested new infection of leptospirosis, especially in goats. Logistic regression was also performed to determine the association between Leptospiral antibody infection and different characteristics such as sex, location, host, and serovars with P= 0.0086. There was a significant association between the leptospiral infection and serovars Sokoine and Grippotyphosa with P=0.0073, nevertheless, there was no significant between the disease with other characteristics such as sex, host, location and serovars This present study suggests that leptospira infection is a matter of public health concern as it is associated with different burdens from animals and humans, decreased livestock economy to livestock keepers due to the death of livestock animals, and decline in milk production, death of people following outbreak as it reported in Tanzania. Increased contact between human and their animals suggests possible transmission of leptospirosis in Kilwa district the southern, Tanzania. Therefore, control of the disease is inevitable to reduce the burden of the disease.

Description

MSc. Dissertation

Keywords

Leptospirosis, zoonosis, serovars, Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT), Livestock, small mammals, Kilwa district

Citation