1Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Villupuram, Tamilnadu - 605 602, India
2Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu - 614 625, India
3Leptospirosis Research Laboratory, Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, Tamilnadu - 600 051, India
*Corresponding author: Email: vengadapadyn@tanuvas.org.in
Online published on 16 May, 2014.
Leptospirosis being a zoonotic disease occurs in people, who are in close contact with animals such as pet owners, Veterinarians, Butchers and other animal handlers. Though, occurrence of this disease is being reported periodically among various risk groups, systematic studies on the prevalence of this disease among risk groups are limited, which are essential to frame control and preventive strategies. In this study, we have made an attempt to study the sero-prevalence of leptospirosis among mavooths (elephant attendants). Sera samples collected from thirty one captive elephant attendants were screened by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for the presence of antibodies against 12 Leptospira (L) serovars namely L. australis, L. autumnalis, L. balum, L. canicola, L. grippotyphosa, L. hardjo, L. hebdomadis, L. icterohaemorrhagiae, L. javanica, L. pomona, L. pyrogenes and L. tarassovi. Nearly 36% (11/31) of the sera samples had antibodies against six L. serovars (L. australis, L. grippotyphosa, L. hebdomadis, L. pomona, L. pyrogenes and L. tarassovi)
Leptospirosis, Weils disease, mavooths, microscopic agglutination test
