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Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in domesticated Asian elephants (Elephas

maximus) in north and west Thailand in 2004

Article  in  The Veterinary record · April 2007

DOI: 10.1136/vr.160.11.368 · Source: PubMed

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Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in
domesticated Asian elephants (Elephas
maximus) in north and west Thailand in 2004
O. Oni, K. Sujit, S. Kasemsuwan, T. Sakpuaram, D. U. Pfeiffer

Serum samples from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai and Lampang
provinces of Thailand were tested using the microscopic agglutination test against 22 serovars of Leptospira
interrogans. A titre of more than 1:100 was used as evidence of infection. In northern Thailand, the
seroprevalence was 58 per cent and the prevalent serovars were Leptospira interrogans serovar Sejroe,
Leptospira interrogans serovar Tarassovi, Leptospira interrogans serovar Ranarum and Leptospira
interrogans serovar Shermani. In western Thailand, the seroprevalence was 57 per cent and the prevalent
serovars were L Tarassovi, L Sejroe, L Ranarum, Leptospira interrogans serovar Bataviae and L Shermani.
These results were similar to studies in domestic livestock and stray dogs in the Bangkok district. Among the
elephants from Kanchanaburi there were significant associations between seropositivity and between the
camp and between the prevalent serovars and the camp.

LEPTOSPIROSIS is a zoonotic infection of worldwide sig-
nificance caused by pathogenic Leptospira interrogans, which
may affect almost every mammalian species, including aquatic
mammals and marsupials (Levett 2001, Colagross-Schouten
and others 2002, Acevedo-Whitehouse and others 2003). The
most frequent sources of infection are contaminated urine,
surface water and muddy soil (Bunnag and others 1983,
Tangkanakul and others 2000). The leptospires enter either
through small skin abrasions or directly into the bloodstream
via the conjunctiva, genital tract, mucous membranes, lungs
or placenta (Alston and Broom 1958, Shotts 1981, Leighton
and Kuiken 2001, Sambasiva and others 2003). Acute lepto-
spiraemia causes fever, anorexia, depression, generalised
muscle pain and renal or liver failure (Aiello 1998). Other
reported signs are mastitis and abortion in cattle, recurrent
uveitis in horses, haemolytic anaemia in the black rhinoc-
eros (Diceros bicornis) and interstitial nephritis in California
sea lions (Zalophus californianus). Routine haematology and
biochemistry often reveal leucocytosis, lymphopenia, mono-
cytosis and thrombocytopenia; there may also be azotaemia,
haemoglobinuria or proteinuria secondary to renal failure,
and jaundice or bilirubinaemia secondary to hepatic failure
(Alston and Broom 1958, Faine 1982). It is not known to
what extent elephants suffer from the clinical form of lepto-
spirosis.
Most leptospiral serovars are associated with a mainte-
nance host species in which the disease is mild or subclini-
cal and is followed by chronic infection (Bunnag and others
1983, Faine 1994, Kollars and others 2002, Kositanont and
others 2003). Leptospires are shed in the urine and may infect
incidental host species. Incidental species have low suscepti-
bility to infection and develop acute disease, but are them-
selves inefficient transmitters of leptospires (Quinn 2002). No
clinical signs have been reported in Asian elephants (Elephas
maximus), which suggests that they may be a maintenance
host capable of sustaining a chronic infection.
Leptospirosis is endemic in Thailand, and most human
cases occur during the months of high rainfall from June to
December (Tangkanakul and others 2000, Ministry of Public
Health 2002, Kositanont and others 2003). The main groups
reported to be at risk are those in close contact with ani-
mals or animal products, those who work in wet conditions
and those participating in water-based recreational activities
(Tangkanakul and Kingnate 1998, Pornsiripongse and oth-
ers 2001, Ministry of Public Health 2002, Ratanasang and
others 2002, Thongchit 2003). Elephants, and those in close
contact with them, may therefore be considered a high-
risk group because their behaviour and management often
involves bathing in rivers or streams (Upadhye and others
1979, Bhatt and others 1998). Thai elephants are classified as
commercial animals under the Draught Animal Act (Beast of
Burden Act) 1939 (Lair 1997, Baker and Kashio 2001). They
have become heavily involved in tourism since logging was
banned in 1989, but there is no framework for surveillance of
their health, and hence their epidemiological role in disease
is yet to be defined.
A previous study in Indian elephants found low lev-
els of antibodies to Leptospira interrogans serovar Valbuzzi
and Leptospira interrogans serovar Pyrogenes (Upadhye and
others 1979). Bhatt (1998) found antibodies to Leptospira
interrogans serovar Pomona, Leptospira interrogans sero-
var Icterohaemorrhagiae, Leptospira interrogans serovar
Grippotyphosa, Leptospira interrogans serovar Hebdomadis,
Leptospira interrogans serovar Hardjo and Leptospira inter-
rogans serovar Canicola in 21 per cent of Indian elephants
sampled, with antibody levels ranging from 1:100 to 1:200. In
human beings, the most prevalent serovar in central Thailand
is Leptospira interrogans serovar Bataviae (Bunnag and others
1983, Arimitsu and others 1987, Kollars and others 2002). In
the north and north-east, other serovars, such as Leptospira
interrogans serovar Bratislava, L Pyrogenes and Leptospira Veterinary Record (2007)
interrogans serovar Ballico have been reported (Montiau- 160, 368-371
Arsana and others 1997, Tangkanakul and Kingnate 1998,
Thongchit 2003). O. Oni, MA, VetMB, MSc,
The aim of this survey was to determine the prevalence MRCVS,
of leptospiral infections in north and west Thailand, and to Institute of Zoology,
identify the locally occurring serovars. Regent’s Park, London
NW1 4RY
K. Sujit, DVM,
MATERIALS AND METHODS S. Kasemsuwan, DVM,
T. Sakpuaram, BSc, DVM,
A cross-sectional survey was carried out using samples col- MPh, PhD,
lected in June and July 2004 from 10 different tourist elephant Faculty of Veterinary
camps. Eighty-six samples were collected in Kanchanaburi Medicine, Kasetsart
province, 23 in Chiang Mai and 22 in Lampang. Kanchanaburi University, Nakhon
province is in the west, and Chiang Mai and Lampang are Pathom, Thailand
in the north of Thailand. The elephant camps chosen had D. U. Pfeiffer,
previously been visited by veterinary staff from Kasetsart DrMedVet, DipTropVetSci,
University, and all the elephants at each camp were sampled MACVSc, PhD, MRCVS,
(Table 1). Blood samples were collected from the ear vein of Epidemiology Division,
each elephant and data were obtained using a questionnaire Royal Veterinary College,
so that potential risk factors, for example, the presence of Hawkshead Lane,
skin wounds, could be identified. All the camps, apart from Hatfield, Hertfordshire
the camp in Lampang, were situated on the bank of a major AL9 7TA

The Veterinary Record, March 17, 2007

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TABLE 1: Numbers of elephants sampled in eight camps in Kanchanaburi province (camps A
to H) and in Chiang Mai (camp I) and Lampang (camp J), Thailand
Camp Name Region Number of samples
A Taweechai Elephant Camp Sai Yok 16
B Sai Yok Elephant Camp Sai Yok 28
C Suan Chang Puen Kaew Sai Yok 10
D Ban Mai Pattana Ban Mai Pattana 2 or more serovars. There was a significant difference between
E P Guest House Sangklaburi 10
F The Legacy Hotel Dan Makham Tia 5 (P=0·004). Elephants from camp H reacted to the largest
G Jungle Raft Resort Sai Yok 4 number of serovars. However, there were no significant rela-
H Wang-Pho Elephant Camp Sai Yok 11
I Maesa Elephant Camp Mae Tang 23
J Thai Elephant Conservation Centre Hung Chat 22
river and close to forest, and all the elephants tested were
used to give tourist rides or treks through forest and had free
access to river water.
The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used to
test for the presence of antibodies to 22 serovars (Faine
1982, Gussenhoven and others 1997, Cumberland and oth-
ers 1999, Colagross-Schouten and others 2002). Twenty-
one different serovars of Leptospira interrogans and one of
Leptospira biflexa were represented: Leptospira interrogans
serovar Autumnalis, Leptospira interrogans serovar Ballum,
L Bataviae, L Bratislava, L Canicola, Leptospira interrogans
serovar Celledoni, Leptospira interrogans serovar Cynopteri,
Leptospira interrogans serovar Djasiman, L Grippotyphosa,
L Hebdomadis, L Icterohaemorrhagiae, Leptospira inter-
rogans serovar Javanica, Leptospira interrogans serovar
Louisiana, Leptospira interrogans serovar Manhao, Leptospira
biflexa serovar Patoc I, L Pomona, L Pyrogenes, Leptospira
interrogans serovar Ranarum, Leptospira interrogans serovar
Sarmin, Leptospira interrogans serovar Shermani, Leptospira
interrogans serovar Sejroe and Leptospira interrogans serovar
Tarassovi.
Two-fold dilutions of serum were prepared with phos-
phate-buffered saline (PBS) pH 7·2, and antigen (1:50, 1:100
and 1:200). A negative control of antigen with PBS and a posi-
tive control of rabbit antiserum with homologous antigen
were used (Faine 1982). The sample titre was defined as the
highest dilution that agglutinated at least 50 per cent of the
leptospires relative to the negative control (Faine 1994). An
end point titre of 1:100 or more was considered to indicate
that the elephant was infected (Carter and Cole 1990). A
mixed infection was diagnosed if more than one serovar had
the same high titre (Effler and others 2000).
The results were analysed by using SPSS 12.0 for Windows.
Associations between the infection status of the elephants
and their age, sex, time spent in camp, origin, the presence
of abrasions, the presence of a reservoir host and the loca-
tion of the camp were tested by using the chi-squared test.
Associations between the number of reacting serovars and
the above variables were tested by using the Mann-Whitney
U or Kruskal-Wallis test when there were multiple groups.
Associations between the prevalent serovars and the ele-
phants’ origin or camp were tested by the chi-squared test.
The significance level for all the statistical tests was P≤0·05.
RESULTS
In Kanchanaburi province, the seroprevalence of infected
elephants was 57 per cent, and 14 per cent of the elephants
tested had an antibody titre of more than 1:200. The serov-
ars with the highest prevalence were L Tarassovi, L Sejroe,
L Ranarum, L Bataviae and L Shermani.
There were significant differences between the serop-
ositivity of the different camps (P=0·041); camps D and E
(92 per cent), H (64 per cent) and B (61 per cent) had the
The Veterinary Record, March 17, 2007
Papers & Articles
highest seroprevalences. There was no significant association
between seropositivity and the age group, sex or origin of
the elephants, the time spent in camp, the presence of skin
wounds or the presence of rodents, dogs or cattle in the camp.
The median number of reacting serovars was one (range 0 to
five) and 35 per cent of the positive elephants reacted to two
the relative frequency of serovars in the different camps
tionships between the number of serovars and the camp, the
age, sex or origin of the elephants, the time spent in camp,
the presence of skin wounds or the presence of rodents, dogs
or cattle.
In Chiang Mai and Lampang provinces, the seroprevalence
of infected elephants was 58 per cent. The serovars with the
highest prevalence were L Sejroe, L Tarassovi, L Ranarum and
L Shermani. There were no significant relationships between
seropositivity or the median number of serovars and the age,
group, sex or origin of the elephants, the time spent in camp,
or the presence of dogs or cats.
DISCUSSION
The high seroprevalence and the absence of clinical signs or
associations with the variables assessed suggest that lepto-
spirosis may be endemic and that the Asian elephant may
be a maintenance host species (Alston and Broom 1958,
Faine 1994, Quinn 2002, Smythe and others 2002). The
prevalent serovars in the elephants did not match the sero-
vars found in previous studies in human beings in Thailand
(Montiau-Arsana and others 1997, Kollars and others 2002,
Rattanapaninya and others 2002, Thongchit 2003), sug-
gesting either the disease may not be transmitted between
human beings and elephants or that they do not share a com-
mon source of infection, and hence that elephants may not
pose any zoonotic risk. However, the serovars found in the
elephants did match those found in domestic livestock and
stray dogs in Thailand. A National Institute of Animal Health
(NIAH) serological survey of cattle found that L Ranarum,
L Tarassovi, L Sejroe (Hardjo) and L Shermani were the most
prevalent serovars (D. Suwancharoen, personal communica-
tion). A similar survey of stray dogs in the Bangkok area
found that L Tarassovi, L Bataviae, L Ranarum, L Sejroe and
L Shermani were prevalent (T. Sakpuaram, personal com-
munication). Other studies have also found L Bataviae in
cattle, L Sejroe in cattle and rodents and L Tarassovi in pigs
and rodents (Quinn 1994, NIAH 2004), suggesting that these
serovars may not be host-specific and that there may be a
common source of infection or direct transmission between
the species. Elephants may therefore help to maintain lept-
ospirosis within the domestic population. Whether or not
elephants are capable of transmitting leptospires to other
species could be determined by using PCR to detect patho-
genic serovars in the urine (Bal and others 1994, Acevedo-
Whitehouse and others 2003). However, leptospires may be
shed in urine only intermittently and culture attempts in
Thailand, using urine from animals known to be infected
by pathogenic serovars, has resulted in the isolation of only
non-pathogenic leptospires (D. Suwancharoen, personal
communication).
Environmental contamination by stray dogs, rodents,
river water and surface water have been described as sources
of leptospires, and maintenance or reservoir species are
thought to become infected either before birth (transplacen-
tally) or soon after (Bunnag and others 1983, Weekes and
others 1997, Tangkanakul and others 2000, Kollars and others
2002, Phraisuwan and others 2002, Kositanont and others
2003, Sejvar and others 2003). All the elephants in the present
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Papers & Articles
study had been exposed to river water, and attempts were
made to assess their extent of exposure to dogs, rodents or
cattle by means of a questionnaire. However, further studies
to test samples from river water, the camp environment and
reservoir species would help to prove any epidemiological
link with elephants. Blood samples would need to be taken
from newborn or juvenile elephants to determine whether
early infection occurs.
Geographical variations in seroprevalence and the preva-
lent serovars have been recorded in the black rhinoceros
and California sea lion (Jessup and others 1992, Acevedo-
Whitehouse and others 2003). In the present study, there
were significant differences between the seroprevalence and
the type and number of serovars at the different camps within
Kanchanaburi province. However, there were no significant
differences between the seroprevalence of leptospirosis in the
elephants from the north and west of Thailand, suggesting
that leptospiral infection in these elephants may be affected
only by local factors.
Clinical signs are useful as an aid to diagnosis in human
beings and often indicate the need for serological tests to
confirm the presence of leptospirosis (Chaudhry and others
2002). Typical clinical signs include fever, jaundice, haemor-
rhage or haematuria. No such signs were observed in this
study, which suggests either that elephants may suffer from
subclinical chronic infections or that there may be inadequate
detection of any clinical signs if they occur. No biochemical or
haematological parameters were measured in this study, but
they may prove useful for detecting infection in the absence
of overt clinical signs (Colagross-Schouten and others 2002).
It might then be possible to determine which seropositive
elephants have been exposed and have recovered, and which
are suffering from true infection.
Leptospirosis may be endemic in domesticated Asian
elephants in west and north Thailand. There appear to be
geographical variations in seroprevalence, but other risk fac-
tors do not seem to be important. The serovars found in the
present study were similar to those found in domestic cattle
and stray dogs in the Bangkok region. Further studies are
required to determine the source of infection and whether
leptospires can be transmitted between elephants and other
species.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The authors thank Dr Patchima Sithisarn, Dr Jinpanee
Nankorn and Ms Tippawan Jantafong of the Department of
Veterinary Public Health and Diagnostic Services, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Thailand and Dr
Duangjai Suwancharoen of the Leptospirosis Section, NIAH,
Bangkok, Thailand. Financial support was received from
the Institute of Zoology, London, the Zebra Foundation
for Veterinary Zoological Education, and the Reeve Fund
Travelling Scholarship, Newnham College, Cambridge.
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Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in
domesticated Asian elephants ( Elephas
maximus ) in north and west Thailand in
2004
O. Oni, K. Sujit, S. Kasemsuwan, et al.

Veterinary Record 2007 160: 368-371

doi: 10.1136/vr.160.11.368

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