Leptospirosis is a zoonosis of ubiquitous distribution and causes a wide spectrum of disease.
Burkholderia species are important plant and human pathogens. Little or no investigation has
been performed on any clinically-relevant Burkholderia or Leptospira species in
Johannesburg. Environmental samples were taken from different sites in Johannesburg along
the Jukskei River. These were subjected to culturing for Burkholderia spp. and polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) for Burkholderia and Leptospira spp. Human serum, animal serum and
kidney samples were also subjected to PCR for both organisms. A Leptospira IgM ELISA
was also performed on human serum samples. More Burkholderia spp. were isolated by
culture from soil samples than water samples. The PCR yielded a significantly higher PCR
positive from soil samples (p = 0.015). There was a high prevalence of pathogenic Leptospira
spp. in soil samples. The ELISA yielded only 7.8% (26/332) positive samples. There were no
human or animal positive PCR results for either organism. There is an environmental
presence of both leptospires and Burkholderia in the area sampled. More studies are needed
to establish how both organisms might affect patients with compromised immune systems,
and how often both infections are incorrectly or under-diagnosed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/12547 |
| Date | 18 March 2013 |
| Creators | Saif, Adrienne N. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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