ACADEMIA Letters
Review on the Prevalence and Laboratory Diagnosis of
Leptospira Infection in Nigeria
Kenneth Oshiokhayamhe Iyevhobu, CEPI/ISTH - Irrua Specialist Teaching
Hospital, Irrua Edo State, Nigeria
Basil Nnaemeka Obodo, Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medical
Laboratory Science, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria
Ivie Amanda Airefetalor, CEPI/ISTH - Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua Edo
State, Nigeria
Patrick Okolo, Department of Medical Microbiology, Edo University, Uzairue, Edo
State, Nigeria
Introduction
Leptospirosis also known as Weil’s syndrome, is a transmissible disease of animals and hu-
mans caused by infection with any of the pathogenic members of the genus Leptospira. Lep-
tospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis that occurs worldwide and afects human and some animals
including horses (Greene, 1998). First described by Adolf Weil in 1888 (Wasinski et al.,
2013). It is considered the most prevalent zoonotic disease in the world and has recently been
recognize as a re-emerging disease among animals and humans (Slack, 2010).
Fortunately, only a small number of serovars will be endemic in any particular region
or country. Leptospirosis is a disease that shows a natural habitat, and each serovar tends
to be maintained in specifc maintenance hosts. Therefore, in any region, a domestic animal
species will be infected by serovars maintained by a species or by serovars maintained by other
animal species present in the area. The relative importance of these incidental infections is
determined by the opportunity that prevailing social, management, and environmental factors
Academia Letters, November 2021
Corresponding Author: Kenneth Oshiokhayamhe Iyevhobu, kennylamai@gmail.com
Citation: Iyevhobu, K.O., Obodo, B.N., Airefetalor, I.A., Okolo, P. (2021). Review on the Prevalence and
Laboratory Diagnosis of Leptospira Infection in Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 3888.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3888.
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©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0