Silva, Everton F., Santos, Cleiton S., Athanazio, Daniel, Seyffert, Núbia, Seixas, Fabiana K., Cerqueira, Gustavo M., Fagundes, Michel Q., Brod, Claudiomar S., Reis, Mitermayer G., Dellagostin, Odir A., and Ko, Albert I. (2008) Characterization of virulence of Leptospira isolates in a hamster model. Vaccine, 26 (31). pp. 3892-3896.

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Abstract

Effort has been made to identify protective antigens in order to develop a recombinant vaccine against leptospirosis. Several attempts failed to conclusively demonstrate efficacy of vaccine candidates due to the lack of an appropriate model of lethal leptospirosis. The purposes of our study were: (i) to test the virulence of leptospiral isolates from Brazil, which are representative of important serogroups that cause disease in humans and animals; and (ii) to standardize the lethal dose 50% (LD(50)) for each of the virulent strains using a hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) model. Five of seven Brazilian isolates induced lethality in a hamster model, with inocula lower than 200 leptospires. Histopathological examination of infected animals showed typical lesions found in both natural and experimental leptospirosis. Results described here demonstrated the potential use of Brazilian isolates as highly virulent strains in challenge experiments using hamster as an appropriate animal model for leptospirosis. Furthermore these strains may be useful in heterologous challenge studies which aim to evaluate cross-protective responses induced by sub-unit vaccine candidates.

Item ID:	37429
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1873-2518
Keywords:	Leptospira; leptospirosis; lethal dose; isolation; animal model; virulence
Funders:	CAPES Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Education, Bio-Manguinhos, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (OCF), Brazilian National Research Foundation (CNPq), Research Support Foundation for the State of Bahia (FAPESB), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Projects and Grants:	OCF 09224-7, OCF PDTIS RVR05, CNPq 01.06.0298.00 3373/2005, CNPq 420067/2005, NIH 5 R01 AI052473, NIH 2 D43 TW-00919
Date Deposited:	26 Mar 2015 03:41
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0605 Microbiology > 060502 Infectious Agents @ 100%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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