Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Leptospirosis outbreak in dogs linked to river walks in Japan
By Saeki, Jun & Tanaka, Aki·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2021·Department of Animal Sciences, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine Leptospirosis Outbreak in Japan.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 11 dogs in Osaka, Japan, showed signs of leptospirosis, a serious infection, and sadly, 9 of them died within a month. Most of the affected dogs had been walked along the same riverbed, which was identified as a potential source of the infection. Tests revealed that the bacteria responsible was serovar Australis, for which there is currently no vaccine available in Japan. This outbreak highlights the importance of being cautious about where you walk your dog, especially near water sources that may be contaminated.
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Abstract
Canine leptospirosis was suspected in 11 dogs in Osaka Prefecture, Japan and 9 dogs died within a month, from October 12 to November 10, 2017. Eight of the dogs had been taken on walks along the same riverbed and 4 dogs lived in the same town. Logistic regression analysis between a comparative group and the incident cases group showed that the odds of leptospirosis infection was 13.3 times higher (= 0.044) in the dogs taken on walks along the riverbed than in the dogs not being walked along the riverbed. It is suggesting that these walks had been a risk factor. Microscopic agglutination tests showed that antibody titers againstserovar Australis were 1:2,560 and 1:10,240 in 2 dogs. Therefore,serovar Australis was suspected to be the causative agent, for which no canine vaccine is available in Japan. These results suggested thats serovar Australis can cause local outbreaks. The development of a canine vaccine against various serotypes might help reduce local infections. Leptospirosis is an important infectious disease of dogs and it is also a zoonotic disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34957279/