Leptospira wolffii is a gram negative aerobic bacterium in the spirochaete phylum. The species named after Dutch bacteriologist Jan Willem Wolff.[2]

Leptospira wolffii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Spirochaetota
Class: Spirochaetia
Order: Leptospirales
Family: Leptospiraceae
Genus: Leptospira
Species:
L. wolffii
Binomial name
Leptospira wolffii
Slack et al., 2008
Synonyms[1]
  • Leptospira wolffi Hussain et al., 1978

Description

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As with other species in the phylum, L. wolffii has a spiral shape and uses its endoflagella for movement. Within the genus of Leptospira, L. wolffii falls within the intermediate or opportunistic pathogen clade.[3] The microbe is 10-13 μM long and 0.2 μM wide, making difficult to see unless using dark-field microscopy, so genetic analysis is a common means of identification.[2][4]

Pathogeny

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Leptospira wolffii was first identified in Thailand from a patient's urine sample, who had contracted leptospirosis in 2008.[2] L.wolffii is classified as an intermediate Leptospira, along with L. inadai, L. fainei, L. broomii, and L. licerasiae, meaning it can be carried by a host asymptomatically or cause the disease leptospirosis.[5] When causing illness L. wolffii, like pathogenic Leptospira, can infect a host and spread to various organs including the kidneys where the microbe is shed in the urine. In turn, L. wolffii spreads to other hosts coming into contact with infected urine or contaminated water or soil.[2] Cases of leptospirosis have been caused by L. wolffii have been identified in Central, Southeast, and East Asia carried by humans, dogs, sheep, and other mammals.[4] Since Leptospira can infect a variety of hosts between species it is a problematic anthropozoonotic disease.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Species Leptospira wolffii". lpsn.dsmz.de. LPSN. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Slack, Andrew T.; Kalambaheti, Thareerat; Symonds, Meegan L.; Dohnt, Michael F.; Galloway, Renee L.; Steigerwalt, Arnold G.; Chaicumpa, Wanpen; Bunyaraksyotin, Gaysorn; Craig, Scott; Harrower, Bruce J.; Smythe, Lee D.YR 2008 (2008). "Leptospira wolffii sp. nov., isolated from a human with suspected leptospirosis in Thailand". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 58 (10): 2305–2308. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.64947-0. ISSN 1466-5034. PMID 18842846.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Zakeri, Sedigheh; Khorami, Nargess; Ganji, Zahra F.; Sepahian, Neda; Malmasi, Abdol-Ali; Gouya, Mohammad Mehdi; Djadid, Navid D. (2010-03-01). "Leptospira wolffii, a potential new pathogenic Leptospira species detected in human, sheep and dog". Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 10 (2): 273–277. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2010.01.001. ISSN 1567-1348. PMID 20074666.
  4. ^ a b Kumari, Priyanka; Eo, Kyung Yeon; Lee, Woo-Shin; Kimura, Junpei; Yamamoto, Naomichi (2021). "DNA-based detection of Leptospira wolffii, Giardia intestinalis and Toxoplasma gondii in environmental feces of wild animals in Korea". Journal of Veterinary Medical Science. 83 (5): 850–854. doi:10.1292/jvms.20-0596. PMC 8182320. PMID 33775989.
  5. ^ a b Rahman, S.; Paul, S. K.; Aung, M. S.; Ahmed, S.; Haque, N.; Raisul, M. N. I.; Choity, J. K.; Nila, S. S.; Ara, H.; Roy, S.; Khan, M. N. A. A. (2020-11-01). "Predominance of Leptospira wolffii in north-central Bangladesh, 2019". New Microbes and New Infections. 38: 100765. doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100765. ISSN 2052-2975. PMC 7588863. PMID 33133612.