Pathogenic Leptospira in bats from Campeche and Yucatán, Mexico

Leptospira patógenas en murciélagos de Campeche y Yucatán, México

Objective. To report the infection with Leptospira in the kidneys of bats from Campeche and Yucatán, Mexico, through the amplification by PCR of two different 16S RNA ribosomal gene fragments. Materials and methods. Bat captures were made at one site in Campeche and two sites in Yucatán. Euthanasia was applied to the captured bats and a necropsy was performed to collect a renal tissue sample that was used in the total DNA extraction. Two different conventional PCR were performed for the amplification of the 16S RNA ribosomal gene fragments. Some sequences from positive products were obtained and analyzed with bioinformatics tools to identify the infectious species of Leptospira. Results. Sixty-nine bats belonging to four families and eight different species were captured. The family with the greatest diversity was Phyllostomidae, with five species. The most captured species was Artibeus jamaicensis (41, 59.4%). Both PCR showed a global infection frequency of 21.7%. The infected species were A. jamaicensis, Pteronotus parnellii, and Chiroderma villosum. The bioinformatic analysis of the positive products yielded a 99.0% identity for Leptospira noguchii, Leptospira borgpetersenii, and Leptospira santarosai. Conclusions. Some bat species of Yucatán and Campeche, Mexico, are renal carriers of pathogenic Leptospira, therefore participating in the transmission cycle in the region. The frequency of infection found in the renal tissue of the captured bats is higher than the one obtained from other reservoirs captured in Yucatán and Campeche. New species of bats are reported as renal Leptospira carriers in Mexico.

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