Detección de Leptospira spp. mediante la prueba de qPCR en perros atendidos en el Centro Municipal de Bienestar Animal de la ciudad de Guayaquil.

Abstract

Leptospirosis is known as a disease caused by a bacterium of the genus Leptospira, which is characterized by causing various symptoms and affecting public health due to its zoonotic potential. It is important to emphasize that today the bond between pets and people has been strengthened, and that is why a population of canines with owners was taken. The study was conducted in Guayaquil-Ecuador and had a descriptive correlational qualitative approach, observational in scope with a non-experimental cross-section. The clinical evaluation of each dog within the Centro de Bienestar Animal, a place selected for its daily casuistry and its large influx of patients, was essential because only canines with presumptive symptoms were selected so that the study has a greater frequency of positive cases. Once the dog met the required characteristics, urine and blood samples were collected, in order to submit them to the qPCR test at the Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública Dr. Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez in order to give a diagnosis. A population of 81 dogs was obtained, of which only 62.96% had leptospirosis; age, sex, vaccination, risk factors and the frequency of each symptom presented by the positive dogs were evaluated; Thus it was determined that the symptoms of the disease were nonspecific but that there were factors that predisposed a dog to contract the disease such as: contact with other dogs, hunting rodents and eating bulk food.