Detection of Leptospira Isolates from Rodent, Soil and Water in an Oil Palm Plantation Using PCR

• Main Author: Natasha Nur Afiqah, Mohamed Noor Fuadi
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2016
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/34347/2/Natasha%20Nur%20Afiqah.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/34347/

Leptospirosis can cause serious public health issue in a humid tropical and subtropical country including Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is increasing number of leptospirosis cases that received great attention mainly due to several recent incidence those results in human mortality. The infection is mainly caused by Leptospira bacteria that usually spread through the urine of infected animals especially rodent, soil and water. This study was conducted to determine the presence of Leptospira sp. in Saremas Oil Palm, Miri Sarawak. The presence of Leptospira in rodent is 100%, 16.7% water and 36.6% in soil was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Overall, the finding indicated that the prevalence of pathogenic, intermediate and saprophytic Leptospira was 20.6%, 8.0% and 1.6% in the samples examined. Representative PCR-positive samples which targeted LipL32, 16SrRNA and rrs gene at 423 bp, 331 bp and 240 bp in pathogenic, intermediate and saprophytic Leptospira, respectively were further sequenced. Results from DNA sequencing analysis indicated that the dominant pathogenic, intermediate and saprophytic Leptospira species circulating in these studies are Leptospira weilii, Leptospira interrogans serovar Autumnalis and Leptospira noguchii.