Presence of Leptospira species in bats in Sarawak

Leptospira, is a common bacterium found in the environment belongs to the family of Leptospiraceae of the Spirochaetales order. Animals such as bats, rats, dogs, cattle, pigs, other domestic and wild animals can become a reservoir for the pathogenic Leptospira species. Pathogenic Leptospira can cause leptospirosis if it infects humans. The increasing scientific study of Leptospira has led to the study of the bats as the reservoir of Leptospira species. However, not much investigation has been carried out on the presence of Leptospira in bats in Sarawak, Malaysia. Thus, the main aim for this study was to detect the presence of pathogenic, saprophytic and intermediate Leptospira in bats in Sarawak using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method using three sets of specifically design primer to target the genes for pathogenic Leptospira (lipL32), saprophytic Leptospira (rrs) and intermediate Leptospira (16S rRNA). The kidney samples from bats were cultured into modified liquid E11inghausen-McCullough-Iohnson-Harris (EMIH) media with 5-fluoroumcil and were incubated at room temperature (28-30 cc) for 3 months. The genomic DNA extraction was conducted using Wizard Genomic DNA purification Kit. A total of 100 bat samples were collected from Gunung Mulu National Park and Gunung Santubong National Park, Samwak. Intermediate Leptospira was detected in 5% (5/100) of bats whereas Saprophytic Leptospira was detected in 4% (4/100) of bats. The findings ofthis study indicate that small mammals such as bats are the reservoirs for Leptospira species and are potential vector to emerging disease such as leptospirosis in Sarawak