AUTHOR=Cordonin Colette , Turpin Magali , Bascands Jean-Loup , Dellagi Koussay , Mavingui Patrick , Tortosa Pablo , Roche Marjolaine 

TITLE=Three Leptospira Strains From Western Indian Ocean Wildlife Show Highly Distinct Virulence Phenotypes Through Hamster Experimental Infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00382

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.00382

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses worldwide, with highest incidence reported on tropical islands. Recent investigations carried out in a One-Health framework have revealed a wide diversity of pathogenic <italic>Leptospira</italic> lineages on the different islands of Western Indian Ocean carried out by a large diversity of mammal reservoirs, including domestic and wild fauna. Using golden Syrian hamsters as a model of acute infection, we studied the virulence of <italic>Leptospira interrogans, L. mayottensis,</italic> and <italic>L. borgpetersenii</italic> isolates obtained from rats, tenrecs, and bats, respectively. Hamsters were inoculated with 2.10<sup>8</sup> bacterial cells and monitored for 1 month. The <italic>L. interrogans</italic> isolate proved to be the most pathogenic while <italic>L. mayottensis</italic> and <italic>L. borgpetersenii</italic> isolates induced no clinical symptoms in the infected hamsters. High leptospiral DNA amounts were also detected in the urine and organs of hamsters infected with the <italic>L. interrogans</italic> isolate while <italic>L. mayottensis</italic> and <italic>L. borgpetersenii</italic> isolates mostly failed to disseminate into the organism. In addition, histological damage was more pronounced in the kidneys and lungs of hamsters infected with the <italic>L. interrogans</italic> isolate. Altogether, these data support that <italic>Leptospira</italic> strains shed by mammals endemic to this insular ecosystem (<italic>L. mayottensis</italic> and <italic>L. borgpetersenii</italic> isolates) are less pathogenic than the <italic>L. interrogans</italic> rat-borne isolate. These results may provide a relevant framework for understanding the contrasting epidemiology of human leptospirosis observed among Western Indian Ocean islands.</p>