| Congresso Brasileiro de Microbiologia 2023 | Resumo: 1052-2 | ||||
Resumo:Equine Genital Leptospirosis (EGL) is primarily a reproductive syndrome and it is characterized by a chronic, silent, and genital-focused disease. It is distinct from the other classic equine syndromes caused by leptospires, such as (i) ocular, causing recurrent uveitis, (ii) hepatorenal, including classic icteric symptoms, and (iii) pulmonary, with acute respiratory failure. Since it was recently described, EGL is vastly misdiagnosed and underestimated. Strains of serogroup Australis, mainly serovar Bratislava, have been frequently recognized as agents of leptospiral infection in equine worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of leptospiral DNA in genital samples of mares with placentitis. Cervicovaginal samples (CVM) from 14 mares were received for diagnosis in the Laboratory of Veterinary Bacteriology. The animals belonged all to the same herd, located in the state of Bahia, Brazil and presented sporadic abortion. All mares were pregnant at the time of sampling and presented different levels of placentitis in the transrectal ultrasonography. The animals did not present other clinical signs. The DNA of the samples was extracted with DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (QIAamp, Qiagen) following the manufacturer's recommendations. Conventional PCR of the lipL32 gene, exclusive of pathogenic and intermediate leptospires, was performed and the positive samples were submitted to a nested PCR for the secY gene. Positive samples were intended for BigDye sequencing and the sequences were edited and compared to others deposited in GenBank. Out of the 14 mares, five (35.7%) were lipL32-PCR positives, confirming the presence of leptospiral DNA. Five sequences were obtained, one of each mare, and were classified as Leptospira interrogans serogroup Australis, most probably serovar Bratislava, presenting 99-100% of homology with the Jez reference strain. The herd where the analyzed mares were located, presented 22% of placentitis, frequently receives recipients mares from other herds and allows animals to have access to ponds. This epidemiological scenario associated with our results reinforces that L. interrogans serogroup Australis can play an important role as an agent of reproductive symptoms in mares. Moreover, these cases reinforce EGL as a distinct disease since no other classic symptoms of acute infection were present. Regarding the diagnosis samples, CVM reflects the uterine environment and, due to that, it has been widely used to diagnose genital leptospirosis in cattle. The presence of CVM-positive mares suggests it can also be a promising sample for diagnosing EGL. Palavras-chave: lipL32 , PCR, Australis, nucleotide sequencing, placentitis Agência de fomento:FAPERJ e CNPq | |||||