John B Tsaxra¹*, Bakari I Ngecha³, Madoshi, PB⁴, Godfrey Katusi² and Abdul AS Katakweba²

¹Livestock Training Agency (LITA), Mabuki Campus, Mwanza, Tanzania
²Institute of Pest Management, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
³Livestock Training Agency (LITA), Morogoro Campus, Morogoro, Tanzania
⁴ST. Francis University College of Health and Allied Sciences, Department of Public Health, Ifakara, Tanzania

*Corresponding Author: John B Tsaxra, Livestock Training Agency (LITA), Mabuki Campus, Mwanza, Tanzania.

Received: October 25, 2024; Published: November 21, 2024

Abstract

Introduction: Leptospirosis is a global zoonotic disease of which natural reservoirs are rodents. However, diverse mammals, including pets, serve as transient maintenance hosts and often pass the disease to humans. Due to their mutualistic association with humans, infected dogs may serve as important vectors of leptospirosis.   Human get infected after coming in contact with an environment contaminated with the urine of infected dogs. A serological study was conducted in free roaming and confined dogs in Morogoro, Tanzania, to determine the prevalence of leptospirosis in the canines.

Methodology: Blood samples were collected from 155 and 110 free roaming and confined dogs, respectively. Serum was separated by centrifugation at 3500 rpm for five minutes in the laboratory at the Institute of Pest Management and examined using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). Tested Leptospira spp antigens included serovars Sokoine, Pomona, Hebdomadis, Grippotyphosa and Kenya.

Results: The overall seroprevalence of leptospirosis in the dogs was 163 (61.5%), of which 88 (54.0%) and 75 (46.0%) had single and multiple leptospira serovars respectively. Furthermore, seroprevalence of 67.3% and 35.78% for free 1roaming and confined dogs respectively were recorded. The serovars in infected dogs were: Sokoine (54.6%), Pomona (41.1%), Grippotyphosa (23.9%), Hebdomadis (22.7%), and Kenya (19.6%). The seroprevalence for free roaming dogs was; serovar Sokoine (45.2%), Pomona (22.6%), Hebdomadis (18.7%), Grippotyphosa (16.8%) and Kenya (15.5%). In the confined dogs the serovar prevalence were Sokoine (14.7%), Grippotyphosa (7.3%), Kenya (3.7%), Pomona (22.0%) and Hebdomadis (4.6%). Of the positive dogs, 82 were males and 81 were females of which 133 and 30 were adults and puppies, respectively.

Conclusion: Higher prevalence of leptospirosis was found in free roaming than in confined dogs and serovars Pomona and Sokoine were the most frequent in the two groups of animals. Free roaming dogs have a bigger chance to be exposed to Leptospira spp due to broader interactions in diverse environments. Confinement and vaccination of dogs should be encouraged in Morogoro   to reduce leptospirosis transmission in the animals and incidentally humans.

 Keywords: Leptospirosis; Confined; Free Roaming; Dogs; Serovars; Morogoro

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Citation

Citation: John B Tsaxra., et al. “Cassava Pellets as a Partial Replacement for Maize in Lactating Goats’ Rations". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 6.12 (2024): 18-24.

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Copyright: © 2024 John B Tsaxra., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.