Association of prevalent Leptospira species with different rodents of three northern provinces in Iran using microscopic agglutination test

Purpose: Leptospirosis as a zoonotic disease is caused by Leptospira bacteria. Transmission occurs by contact with contaminated biological fluids of the infected animals. Rodents are major sources of infection for humans or other animals. The disease is distributed mainly in tropical regions with rainfall like northern part of Iran. The aim of this study was to find association of prevalent Leptospira species with different rodents of three Northern Provinces in Iran using microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Methods: In this study, 404 rodents were captured alive at 10 different parts of each Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan Provinces. Identification of the infecting serovars and the antibody titers were done by MAT in the sera samples using a panel of 20 strains of live Leptospira spp. as the source of antigens. RESULTS: Antibodies against one or more serovars were detected in 94 (23.27%) sera at dilution ≥1:200 and 76.73% were detected to be negative. The prevalent Leptospira serovars were detected as L. autumnalis (25.53%), L. serjoehardjo (24.47%) and L. cynopteri (6.38%). The majority of rodents were identified during this study in three provinces included Rattus norvegicus (67.33%), Apodemus sylvaticus (13.86%) and Rattus rattus (13.61%). The common prevalent rodent in three provinces was Rattus norvegicus, which was associated with L. serjoehardjo in Mazandaran (81.8%), L. autumnalis in Gilan (67.2%) and L. canicula in Golestan (50.0%). Conclusion: The dominant srovars of leptospira were L. autumnalis, L. serjoehardjo and L. cynopteri and the most prevalent rodents as reservoir were Rattus norvegicus, Apodemus sylvaticus and Rattus rattus in three Northern provinces of Iran. The results indicated a moderate prevalence of leptospirosis in rodents during this study in north of Iran. This study provided the first epidemiological data about the association between leptospirosis with rodents in Iran.