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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Leptospirosis is an acute zoonotic infection occurring worldwide caused by a pathogenic spirochete belonging to the genus Leptospira. It is estimated that 1.03 million cases of leptospirosis occur every year worldwide. Leptospirosis has become an isolated public health problem in some of the waterlogged areas of Thrissur. The changing rainfall pattern in the Western Ghats has reportedly affected normal climatic condition of Kerala. According to reports of Directorate of Health Services 2017, Kerala, from January 1st to June 30th, a total of 717 confirmed cases of Leptospirosis were reported with 1.25 per cent mortality. In the present study, a total of 85 paddy field water samples were collected in both monsoon and summer seasons. The samples were directly observed under dark field microscope after centrifuging at high speed but none of the samples showed the presence of viable organisms. Further, the identification of organisms were done by polymerases chain reaction by targeting genus specific 16Sr RNA and virulence genes i.e. lipl 21, lipl 41 and lipl 32 respectively. The presence of 16Sr RNA was observed in 20 per cent of the samples and three samples showed presence of all genes except lipl 32. The study reveals the role of environment in maintenance of the infection in the area under study.