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Leptospira interrogans Retains Direct Virulence After Long Starvation in Water

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Abstract

Mostly studied as a zoonosis, leptospirosis is also an environment-borne infection and most human cases originate from soil or water contaminations. Yet, only few studies have been interested in the survival of pathogenic Leptospira in freshwater. In this study, water microcosms were designed to evaluate the survival and virulence of Leptospira spp. for 2 years. Four commercial bottled drinking waters and a non-ionized water, all previously filter-sterilized, were studied. Either one of two Leptospira interrogans strains, one Leptospira borgpetersenii strain, or a saprophytic Leptospira biflexa was inoculated in these waters under nutrient-deprived conditions. Molecular, microscopic and cultural approaches were used to study Leptospira survival. Direct virulence of the pathogens was assessed using animal challenge without re-culturing. Our results confirmed the capacity of pathogenic Leptospira to survive for more than a year in water. In addition, we showed the ability of L. interrogans in nutrient-deprived conditions to directly cause systemic infection in susceptible animals. To our knowledge, this is the first report of direct infection of a susceptible host with Leptospira following a long starvation and survival period in nutrient-deprived water. Our results also suggest that Leptospira turned into a physiological “survival” state in harsh freshwater conditions. These data are of prime importance considering that freshwater is a major source of Leptospira infections. Environmental survival and virulence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. are becoming a crucial challenge to determine the environmental risk and adopt relevant prevention and control strategies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Sophie Geroult who worked on preliminary experiments, Malia Kainiu for her feedback on the manuscript and Mélanie Faure for her help during her internship. We are also thankful to Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia for supporting this research by an internal funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia, Institut Pasteur International Network, Leptospirosis Research and expertise unit, 11 avenue Paul Doumer BP 61, 98845, Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia

    Emilie Bierque, Marie-Estelle Soupé-Gilbert, Roman Thibeaux, Dominique Girault & Cyrille Goarant

  2. Exact and Applied Science Institute, University of New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia

    Emilie Bierque & Linda Guentas

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  1. Emilie Bierque
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Contributions

CG and RT conceived the initial project. EB, MESG and DG planned and carried out experimentations. EB analyzed results and wrote the manuscript with support from CG and LG. CG supervised the entire project. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cyrille Goarant.

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Animal experiments were validated by our institutional review board and conducted in agreement with guidelines of the Animal Care and Use Committees of the Institut Pasteur and followed European Recommendation 2007/526/EC.

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Bierque, E., Soupé-Gilbert, ME., Thibeaux, R. et al. Leptospira interrogans Retains Direct Virulence After Long Starvation in Water. Curr Microbiol 77, 3035–3043 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02128-7

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