Serological and molecular detection of Leptospira spp. in ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua) from an Ecological Park.

Authors

Gabriel Siqueira Dos Santos, Denise Batista Nogueira Silva, Israel Barbosa Guedes, Rafael Rodrigues Soares, Nathália da Silveira Guimarães, Gisele Oliveira de Souza, Bruno Simões Sergio Petri, Haroldo Furuya, Ricardo Augusto Dias, José Soares Ferreira Neto, Marcos Bryan Heinemann

Published in

Veterinary research communications. Volume 50. Issue 5. Jul 01, 2026. Epub Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

Wild animals often play a role in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens. Among the wild mammals of South America, ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua) can present a high frequency of anti-Leptospira antibodies and carry Leptospira spp. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of serum anti-Leptospira antibodies and perform the molecular identification of Leptospira spp. in ring-tailed coatis living in the Tietê River Ecological Park, in southeastern Brazil. Blood and urine samples were obtained from ring-tailed coatis. The serum was tested using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). Urine was cultured in semi-solid Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris medium. The inoculum was cultivated at 28 °C and monitored over six weeks. Total DNA from the blood and urine samples was extracted, and the 16 S rRNA gene and lipL32 were searched by PCR. Of 192 animals, 36 (18.75%) had positive serum samples in the MAT. The most frequent serogroups in MAT were Grippotyphosa (11.46%; 22/192), Autumnalis (7.81%; 15/192) and Cynopteri (2.60%; 5/192). A total of 116 urine samples were obtained. None of the Leptospira spp. were isolated, twelve samples were positive for the 16 S rRNA gene (10.34%), and four were positive for the lipL32 gene (3.4%). These results indicate a high frequency of serum anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies in coatis from the Tietê River Ecological Park and highlight the possibility of their potential role as carriers of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in urine.

PMID:
42384097
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

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