High syphilis seropositivity in European brown hares (Lepus europaeus), Lower Saxony, Germany.
Lepus europaeus
Treponema paraluisleporidarum
lagomorpha
rabbit
serology
spirochaete
Journal
Transboundary and emerging diseases
ISSN: 1865-1682
Titre abrégé: Transbound Emerg Dis
Pays: Germany
ID NLM: 101319538
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2020
Sep 2020
Historique:
received:
26
02
2020
accepted:
17
03
2020
medline:
21
3
2020
pubmed:
21
3
2020
entrez:
21
3
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The lagomorph-infecting Treponema paraluisleporidarum is a close relative of the human syphilis-bacterium Treponema pallidum. There is a paucity of information on the epidemiology of hare syphilis and its relationship to the rabbit- and human-infecting treponemes that cause syphilis. In our study, we tested 734 serum samples from European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) collected between 2007 and 2019 in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, for the presence of antibodies against T. paraluisleporidarum. Since T. paraluisleporidarum cross-reacts with T. pallidum antigen, we used a commercially available T. pallidum-particle agglutination (TP-PA) assay to test for the presence of antibodies. A high seropositivity (n = 405/734) was detected. An additional 233 serum samples were retested using a fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test to confirm the results of the TP-PA assay. Our results show that infection is widespread in Lower Saxony and suggest a horizontal (sexual) transmission mode since adult hares show significantly higher seropositivity than subadults (odds ratio: 0.03 [95% CI 0.02-0.05], p < .0001). No difference was detected based on gender (odds ratio: 0.79 [95% Cl 0.58-1.07], p = .1283). Further studies are warranted to genetically characterize the T. paraluisleporidarum strains that infect wild hares.
Banques de données
RefSeq
['NC_015714.1']
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
2240-2244Subventions
Organisme : German Research Foundation
ID : DFG KN1097/7-1
Organisme : Czech Science Foundation
ID : GC18-23521J
Informations de copyright
© 2020 The Authors. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.
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