Leptospira interrogans Retains Direct Virulence After Long Starvation in Water
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Leptospira interrogans Retains Direct Virulence After Long Starvation in Water Emilie Bierque1,2 · Marie‑Estelle Soupé‑Gilbert1 · Roman Thibeaux1 · Dominique Girault1 · Linda Guentas2 · Cyrille Goarant1 Received: 5 March 2020 / Accepted: 9 July 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Mostly studied as a zoonosis, leptospirosis is also an environment-borne infection and most human cases originate from soil or water contaminations. Yet, only few studies have been interested in the survival of pathogenic Leptospira in freshwater. In this study, water microcosms were designed to evaluate the survival and virulence of Leptospira spp. for 2 years. Four commercial bottled drinking waters and a non-ionized water, all previously filter-sterilized, were studied. Either one of two Leptospira interrogans strains, one Leptospira borgpetersenii strain, or a saprophytic Leptospira biflexa was inoculated in these waters under nutrient-deprived conditions. Molecular, microscopic and cultural approaches were used to study Leptospira survival. Direct virulence of the pathogens was assessed using animal challenge without re-culturing. Our results confirmed the capacity of pathogenic Leptospira to survive for more than a year in water. In addition, we showed the ability of L. interrogans in nutrient-deprived conditions to directly cause systemic infection in susceptible animals. To our knowledge, this is the first report of direct infection of a susceptible host with Leptospira following a long starvation and survival period in nutrient-deprived water. Our results also suggest that Leptospira turned into a physiological “survival” state in harsh freshwater conditions. These data are of prime importance considering that freshwater is a major source of Leptospira infections. Environmental survival and virulence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. are becoming a crucial challenge to determine the environmental risk and adopt relevant prevention and control strategies.
Introduction Pathogenic Leptospira are the etiological agents of leptospirosis, a re-emerging zoonosis found worldwide. The global burden of leptospirosis has been estimated over 1 million cases and nearly 60,000 deaths annually [1]. Clinical presentation of the disease is diverse, ranging from flulike fever to severe polyvisceral failures. Leptospirosis can infect all mammals; some like rats or pigs are asymptomatic Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02128-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Cyrille Goarant [email protected] 1
Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia, Institut Pasteur International Network, Leptospirosis Research and expertise unit, 11 avenue Paul Doumer BP 61, 98845 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia
Exact and Applied Science Institute, University of New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia
2
chronically infected reservoirs. Leptospires are shed via urine of reservoir animals into the surrounding environment
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