| ABSTRACT: For a long time, it has been stated that urine leptospiral shedding is intermittent, which was observed primarily by culturing. However, culturing presents serious limitations, mainly low sensitivity, and failure on detection of leptospires cannot be neglected. PCR presents several advantages, mainly higher sensitivity. The present study aimed to analyze the occurrence of intermittency on leptospiral shedding by PCR in naturally and experimentally infected animals. In this study two experiments were conducted, the first with 60 cows naturally infected from an endemic herd. The second one was conducted in three sheep experimentally infected, each one with a different strain of Leptospira (strains Copenhageni L1-130, Canicola LO-4 and Pomona... |
