Occurrence of Leptospirae Antibodies in Abattoir Workers in Parts of North Central Nigeria

Leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease of livestock with worldwide occurrence, can have debilitating and life threatening consequences on humans. Thus to determine the sero-epidemiology of Leptospira antibodies in Nigeria, prevalent circulating serovars in the population and provide data for health policy makers, in the control and treatment of leptospirosis, this study was undertaken. Two hundred and sixty-three blood samples from male and female abbatoir workers from four locations in north central Nigeria; Benue State, Plateau State, Nassarawa State and the Federal Capital Territory were screened for the antibodies to leptospirae by Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) and IgG ELISA techniques, where 87.7 and 81.0% sero-positive rates were obtained, respectively. Nassarawa State had the highest sero-positive rate of 94.3%, while the least rates were found in Plateau State with 82.8%. Across all study locations, more males were seropositive than females. Leptospira hardjo was the highest circulating serovar; 66 (28.6%), while, the least was L. tarassovi 8 (3.5%). Symptoms of Leptospira infection closely mimic those of many febrile illnesses in Nigeria and accurate diagnosis may be missed. Education of susceptible individuals and close collaboration between research and medical workers is advocated to help combat the infection.