A serological survey on Leptospiral infection in companion rabbits referred to Veterinary Hospital of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz

Leptospirosis is one of the major zoonotic diseases worldwide. this disease is caused by various serovars of leptospirainterrogans sensu lato infection. although the rabbits are known to be one of the reservoirs and transmission sources ofleptospirosis, but the status of this infection in rabbits in iran remains unknown, so this survey was conducted to evaluate theseroprevalence of leptospiral infection in companion rabbits in ahvaz district from september 2010 to december 2013. bloodsamples were taken from 68 companion rabbits, referred to veterinary hospital of shahid chamran university of ahvaz. serawere screened for antibodies against serovars of canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, grippotyphosa, ballum, hardjo, pomona,australis and tarassovi using the microscopic agglutination test (mat). from a total of 68 rabbits, 19 (27.94%) wereserologically positive for the serovars of l. icterohaemorrhagiae, tarassovi, grippotyphosa, hardjo, pomona and australis.the positive titers were detected between 1:100 to 1:200 dilutions. the predominant titers were directed against serovars oficterohaemorrhagiae (36.84%; 7 out of 19) and tarassovi (36.84%; 7 out of 19) and followed by hardjo (21.05%; 4 out of 19),australis (10.53%; 2 out of 19), pomona (5.26%; 1 out of 19) and grippotyphosa (5.26%; 1 out of 19). antibodies against morethan one serovar (mixed infections) were detected in three samples (as pomona+hardjo and icterohaemorrhagiae+ tarassovi).the prevalence was significantly higher in adult rabbits above 3 years (37.04%; 10 out of 27) and between 1-3 years (36.36%; 8out of 22) compared with rabbits less than 1 years (5.26%; 1 out of 19) (p < 0.05). prevalence was higher in males rabbits(30.77%; 12 out of 39) than females (24.14%; 7 out of 29), and in the season of summer (31.25%; 5 out of 16), but thedifference was not significant relative to host gender and season (p > 0.05). this survey indicated that serovars of l.icterohaemorrhagiae and tarassovi were predominant in the rabbits of this area and can be a source of infection for humans.the obtained results provide useful information on the epidemiology of leptospirosis in this species, which has not beenpreviously investigated.