Neglected Zoonotic Diseases: Advances in Leptospirosis in Livestock and Companion Animals

Dear Colleagues,

Leptospirosis is caused by spirochaetal bacteria of the genus Leptospira and is an almost endemic disease worldwide. Leptospira spp. can potentially affect all mammals, which may act as primary or defective hosts and develop the acute disease, or as carrier hosts, primarily responsible for spreading the disease. Further exploration is needed to define the epidemiological role of domestic animals as carriers or environmental sentinels of leptospirosis as well as the transmission chains among domestic, wild and synanthropic animals. Advanced diagnostic methods enable the identification of circulating strains of Leptospira in farm and companion animals and comparison of the existence of genotypes shared with humans and wildlife.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather advances in knowledge about leptospirosis in livestock and companion animals. These include atypical or unusual clinical presentations, clinical and epidemiological data, and anatomopathological and histopathological findings identified using advanced laboratory (e.g., serological, bacteriological, biomolecular, genomic and immunohistochemical) and diagnostic techniques.

Scientific contributions regarding clinical cases are welcome as long as they report confirmatory tests for leptospirosis. For anatomopathological cases, necroscopic and histopathological findings demonstrating the harmful action of the etiological factor identified are required.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• One Health;
• Zoonoses;
• Epidemiology;
• Clinical symptoms;
• Histopathology;
• Immunohistochemistry;
• Leptospirosis and co-morbidities;
• Bacterial culture;
• Serological diagnostic methods;
• Molecular diagnostic methods;
• Molecular typing methods;
• Vaccination.

Dr. Elisa Mazzotta
Dr. Laura Bellinati
Dr. Greta Foiani
Guest Editors

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• leptospirosis
• companion animals
• livestock
• sequencing
• genotyping
• serology
• molecular biology
• histopathology
• immunohistochemistry
• epidemiology
• zoonosis
• one health