ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1663896
Detection of leptospiral antibodies and DNA in freshwater fish
Provisionally accepted
Laroy Brandt1
Emily Willems2
Joey Morgan2
Lauren Wisnieski2
Sloane Boukobza2Allison Geer2Conner Duke2Scott Brovarney2Brooke Noah2
Michele D Coarsey3Hemant Naikare3Shashi S Verma4Agnes Mary Vanderpool1
Ashutosh Verma2*- 1Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, United States
- 2College of Veterinary Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, United States
- 3University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Athens, United States
- 4J Frank White Academy, Harrogate, United States
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Leptospirosis is an important zoonotic disease that is maintained in populations due to chronic kidney infection of reservoir mammals. Previous work from our lab has identified rodents, voles, shrews, chipmunks and several species of amphibians and reptiles as hosts of Leptospira spp. in the Cumberland Gap Region of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. The aim of this study was to determine if fish contribute to the maintenance of the pathogen in the aquatic environment. Fish (n=238), belonging to 19 genera, were collected from seven different locations in the Powell River in East Tennessee. Fish kidneys were harvested and screened for leptospiral DNA using a TaqMan quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay that targets pathogenic Leptospira spp. Blood samples were collected for measuring leptospiral antibodies using microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Of the 238 fish screened, 11 were positive by either qPCR or MAT (4.62%; 95% CI: 2.33-8.12). Of these 3 (3/238; 1.26%; 95% CI: 0.26-3.64) were positive by qPCR and 8 (8/237; 3.38%; 95% CI: 1.47-6.54) were found to have antibodies to at least one leptospiral serovar by MAT. This is the first report of leptospiral DNA detection in fish kidneys, providing insights on the potential role of fish in the epidemiology of leptospirosis in the region.
Keywords: Leptospira spp., fish, Powell River, Appalachia, Cumberland Gap Region
Received: 19 Jul 2025; Accepted: 19 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Brandt, Willems, Morgan, Wisnieski, Boukobza, Geer, Duke, Brovarney, Noah, Coarsey, Naikare, Verma, Vanderpool and Verma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ashutosh Verma, College of Veterinary Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, United States
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