The Relevance of Rainfall and Leptospiral Seropositive Rate in Regional Shelter Dogs in Yilan, Taiwan

• Main Authors: Huang-Yuan Chen, 陳煌元
• Other Authors: Chiung-Hsiang Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/54683403105499067622

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 獸醫學研究所 === 102 === A sero-epidemiological study on canine leptospirosis was conducted in stray dogs from a regional animal shelter of Yilan, Taiwan. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used to screen for leptospirosis using 8 serovars. 807 sera of stray dogs were collected from November 2011 to April 2013. Of a total of 807 serum samples tested, 174 (21.6 %) dogs with 218 (27 %) reactions were seropositive for Leptospira agglutinins, 29 (3.6 %) dogs with 73 (33.5 %) reactions were multiple-infected and 57 (7.1 %) reactions within 45 (5.6 %) dogs had current infections. The distributions of leptospiral serovars were Shermani 32.6 % (71 / 218), Javanica 22.5 % (49 / 218), Canicola 13.8 % (30 / 218), Patoc 11.5 % (25 / 218), Poi 7.8 % (17 / 218), Icterohaemorrhagiae 4.1 % (9 / 218), Pomona 4.1 % (9 / 218) and Kennewicki 3.7 % (8 / 218). The prevalence of stray dogs was not significantly different between male and female, but it’s significantly different between age older and young than two months (p < 0.05, χ2). The acute infectious rate of serovar Shermani was significantly higher than chronic (p < 0.05, χ2) and its proportion was 46.7 % of all acute infections, it was considered the distribution of this serovar was on the increase. There was less leptospiral infectious risk for individual dog living in closed environment, on the contrary, a crowd of dog living in closed environment had more infectious risk. A statistically significant correlation (r = 0.62, p < 0.05) was noted between the monthly acute infectious rate of leptospirosis and the two months cumulative rainfall recorded 3-months prior to diagnosis, and rainfall could be used to predict the occurrence of leptospirosis. According to this and past researches, serovar Shermani was the most dominated in seropositive reactions and acute infections, therefore, it should be a top priority for inclusion in the vaccine used locally in Taiwan.