A Novel Genotype of Leptospira interrogans Recovered from Leptospirosis Outbreak Samples from Southern Thailand.

Abstract

We performed Leptospira culture analysis of 76 clinical samples collected from animals and of six soil samples for the investigation of a leptospirosis outbreak in southern Thailand in 2017. Leptospires were recovered from a kidney sample (a fatal canine leptospirosis case) and from all the soil samples. Next, 16S rRNA sequence analysis demonstrated that the clinical isolate was closely related to the pathogenic L. interrogans, whereas the soil isolates represented different species, including pathogenic L. ellisii, intermediate L. wolffii, and nonpathogenic L. yanagawae. Multilocus sequence typing identified an isolate of L. interrogans as a novel sequence type (ST263), suggesting that the causative agent of the canine leptospirosis in the southern Thailand outbreak has a unique genetic profile.