| Species/Subspecies:
|
Leptospira interrogans |
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| Etymology:
|
Genus name: thin helix (coil). Species epithet: interrogation (refers to the shape resembling a question mark). |
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| Significance: | Leptospirosis is said to be the most wide spread zoonotic infection in Nature.
[Very important]
|
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| Taxonomy:
|
| Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
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| Spirochaetes | Spirochaetia | Spirochaetales | Leptospiraceae | Leptospira |
|
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| Type Strain:
|
Serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae, RGA = ATCC 23581. |
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| Macromorphology (smell):
| |
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| Micromorphology:
| "Sewing thread thin" (0.1 x 6-12 µm), helical and with a hook on each end. Motile and has two periplasmic flagella. |
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| Gram +/Gram -: | G- |
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| Metabolism:
|
Aerobic |
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| Catalase/Oxidase: | +/+ |
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| Fermentation of carbohydrates:
| Does not ferment karbohydrates. |
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| Spec. Char.:
| Generation time: 6-8 h. Optimal growth temperature: 28-30°C. |
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| Hosts:
| Dog, cattle and pig etc. as well as humans. |
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| Disease (Swedish): | Leptospiros, som är en zoonos. |
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| Disease (English): | Leptospirosis, which is a zoonosis. |
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| Clinical Picture:
| Fever, renal and hepatic insufficiency as well as pulmonary manifestations and reproductive failure. |
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| Genome Sequence:
|
| Acc-no | Strain | Size (bp) | Genome |
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| AE016823 and AE016824 | Fiocruz L1-130 (Serovar Copenhageni) | 4 627 366 | 2c + 0 |
Chrom I (4.277.185 bp) and chrom. II (350 181 bp), respectively.
|
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| 16S rRNA Seq.:
|
| Acc-no | Strain | Number of NT | Operon |
|---|
| Z12817 | Serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae, RGAT | 1 396 | 2 |
Two rRNA genes on chrom. I and none on chrom. II.
|
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| Taxonomy/phylogeny:
|
|
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| Legislation:
|
Leptospirosis is notifyable in Sweden |
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| Comment: | There are 23 different serogroups, which in turn are divided into about 250 different serovars. Icterohaemorrhagiae and Bratislava are important serovars. From a clinical point of view, the serovar is more important than the species as pathogenicity is associated with serovar, rather than species and different species may belong to the same serovar. |
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| Reference(s):
| No. 6, 36, 41, 109 |
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| Link(s):
| The Leptospirosis Information Center |
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