Pengesanan dan Pencirian Leptospira spp. pada Haiwan Liar dan Persekitaran di Pusat Pemuliharaan ex situ

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease caused by Leptospira that infects human and animals. This study was carried out to determine the presence of Leptospira that circulates among orang utans, rodents, and environment in Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island (BMOUI) and Taiping Zoo, Perak. Animal and environmental samples obtained from both study sites were inoculated into Ellinghausen-Mccullough-Johnson-Harris (EMJH) media for leptospiral culturing. Simple detection and characterization of leptospiral species through PCR were conducted on positive cultures and animal samples. Further characterization of leptospiral species up to serovar level via multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) was conducted on pathogenic cultures only. 8/14 isolates from BMOUI environmental samples were known as saprophytic species (L. yanagawae, L. meyeri and L. idonii), 4/14 as intermediate species (L. wolffii) and 2/14 (labelled as ‘Soil2’ and ‘BJ3 soil’) as pathogenic leptospires. Through MLST, ‘Soil2’ was characterized as L. interrogans serovar Lai Langkawi with sequence typing, ST number: 236. Isolate ‘BJ3 soil’ was given a new set of allelic profiles and ST number of 262 (L. kmetyi). 15/15 environmental cultures from Taiping Zoo were identified as L. yanagawae and L. meyeri. Leptospira in orang utan and rodent samples from BMOUI have shown to be closely related to L. wolffii. Strains detected in orang utan samples from Taiping Zoo were closely related to L. kmetyi and L. wolffii. This study provides evidence on leptospirosis transmission in both locations which can be important for improving strategies in prevention of the disease thus helping in conservation of the orang utans.