Fifty years of leptospirosis research in New Zealand: a perspective

Authors: Manktelow BW, Marshall RB
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 50, Issue 3 Supplement, pp 61-63, Jun 2002
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Cattle, Human, Livestock, Pig, Production animal, Rat, Rodent, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Animal remedies/veterinary medicines, Bacterial, Biosecurity, Disease control/eradication, Epidemiology, Immune system/immunology, Zoonosis, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Public health, Vaccination, History, Veterinary profession
Article class: Review Article

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Abstract: It is not known when pathogenic leptospires first became established in New Zealand. The first land mammals to arrive in this country about 1,200 years ago were human beings, dogs and the kiore, Rattus exulans. It cannot be determined if leptospirosis also arrived at that time. It is more likely that most, if not all pathogenic leptospires arrived with intentional and unintentional mammalian imports in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The history of leptospirosis research in New Zealand is one which has traced the pattern of infection from overt animal and human disease through to the epidemiology of inapparent carrier states in both domestic and feral animals. We now know that these carriers represent reservoirs of infection. The causal organisms are fragile and can be difficult to grow. Serological testing has sometimes been useful in diagnosis but in earlier days serology created confusion because of cross-reactions among types (serovars) of leptospires. For example early studies suggested that the hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus occidentalis, might be a carrier of infection by serovar pomona, but subsequent work showed that serovar ballum was the most common serovar in that host. Another very practical deficiency of reliance on serological diagnosis was the absence of antibody in the early stages of acute disease. The first confirmed occurrence of leptospirosis in domesticated animals in New Zealand was…

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