Leptospirosis research

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis which is caused by spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira . Pathogenic leptospires live in the kidneys of a wide variety of free-living, domestic, and farm animals, notably rodents, insectivores and cattle. The disease is spread via urine from the host animal. Weil's disease is one of many manifestations of leptospirosis. Leptospirosis occurs worldwide and is a common mild to severe health problem for humans and animals, particularly in areas with a hot and humid climate. Because of its protean manifestations and the difficult diagnosis, leptospirosis is often confused with other diseases that are endemic and epidemic in the same climatologic and environmental conditions. Hence the disease is severely underestimated and presents one of the most neglected diseases worldwide. As a consequence of the occurrence of many leptospiral serovars and availability of many natural animal carrier hosts the control of the disease is complex.

Approach

Leptospirosis is a neglected disease that strongly suffers from unawareness caused by the difficult diagnosis. KIT Biomedical Research activities include therefore the generation of rapid and robust diagnostic tests for global use and the provision of national and international training activities and consultancies.

International multidisciplinary research projects are aimed at studying spatial and temporal distribution in humans and animals associated with climatologic, environmental, socio-economic and anthropological factors and the establishment of sustainable surveillance networks. Isolates are received from all over the world for serological and molecular typing. Novel molecular methods for early diagnosis and generating digital strain-specific features are under development and/or evaluation. Further developments are aimed at the generation of queriable databases with worldwide on-line access. Methods include techniques enabling to study the pathogen evolution of Leptospira.

As little is known on the pathogenesis of leptospirosis, collaborative research has started on the release of cytokines and defects in the blood coagulation cascade in severe haemorrhagic leptospirosis. Understanding of the pathogenesis will contribute to the design of improved protocols for treatment and as such fits within the department’s philosophy to contribute to an improved public health notably in economical deprived countries.

 

Focal points

  • Evaluation and application of rapid and robust diagnostic assays
  • International research on the extent and distribution of leptospirosis worldwide; disease burden, epidemiology and surveillance
  • Development of novel molecular techniques for the detection and characterization of pathogenic leptospires.
  • Leptospira pathogen evolution
  • Mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of leptospirosis

Example

With support and participation of  Dr. Hartskeerl, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an informal Consultation to Assess the Methods for a Global Burden of Burden of Leptospirosis in October 2006. One of the Consultation's main recommendations was to establish - under the leadership of WHO's Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases (FOS) - a Leptospirosis Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (LERG). Dr. Hartskeerl is one of the members of the currently established LERG

Projects


Publications


Team members


Contact

For further information please contact Dr. Rudy Hartskeerl

Tags

disease control | diagnostics | infectious diseases | leptospirosis |

Royal Tropical Institute