Leptospira-agglutmating Factors in Turtle Sera

Abstract

IN our epidemiological research on the carriership of pathogenic Leptospira among wild animals in Israel, 58 swamp turtles (Clemmys caspica) of various ages originating from twelve different regions of the country were investigated for the presence of agglutinins. Serum tests were carried out against 13 serotypes of Leptospira (L. icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, grippotyphosa, pomona, hebdomadis, sejroe, australis A, autumnalis Kachmat, bataviae, hyos, battum, poi and mini Szwajizak). With 11 of these strains no reaction was observed. However, all sera showed highly significant titres in the agglutination test with L. ballum, both the ‘complete’ (Castellon) strain and the ‘incomplete’ (S 102) strain. (Three sera reacted with titre 250, two with titre 500, seven with titre 1,000, fourteen with titre 2,000, fourteen with titre 4,000, twelve with titre 8,000, three with titre 16,000 and four with titre 32,000.) Besides agglutinins, lysins were also demonstrated. In fifteen sera low titres were also found for L. hyos (eight up to 50, five up to 100, three up to 250), the remaining sera showing no agglutination with this serotype. Negative results were obtained too with L. icterohaemorragiae ‘incompleta’ and L. sarmini, which have some antigenical relationship with L. ballum.