Seroprevalence, diagnosis and histopathological studies on leptospirosis in horses Naseema U.1,*, Vairamuthu S.1, Balachandran C.1, Ravikumar G.1 1Department of Veterinary Pathology, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-600 007 *Corresponding author: e-mail: vetnaseema@gmail.com
Abstract A study was conducted on 355 normal healthy horses (6 months to >10 years age and both the sexes) and five aborted horses in Chennai to determine seroprevalence of leptospiral infection. Sera samples were screened against 12 live serogroups of Leptospira interrogans: australis, autumnalis, ballum, canicola, grippotyphosa, hardjo, hebdomadis, icterohaemorrhagiae, javanica, pomona, pyrogenes and tarassovi using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The prevalence of leptospiral infection was 76.05% in normal healthy horses and 100% in aborted horses. The most common serogroup detected was L. pomona both in healthy and aborted horses (12.22% and 60%, respectively). Sera samples of all aborted horses were positive for leptospirosis by conventional PCR by using lip L32 primers. Histopathologically, kidney showed tubular epithelial cell degeneration and necrosis, severe congestion and infiltration of lymphocytes in the interstitium. Spirochetes were demonstrated with the Warthin-Starry stain in the kidney samples. Top Keywords Horses, Kidney, Leptospirosis, MAT, Seroprevalence. Top |