Nationwide Seroprevalence of Leptospirosis among Young Thai Men, 2007–2008

Abstract. Leptospirosis, a global neglected zoonotic disease, is an important public health problem in Thailand. Nonspecific symptoms, lack of laboratory confirmation, and underreporting contribute to its neglected disease status. To better understand the distribution of leptospirosis exposure in Thailand, a retrospective leptospirosis seroprevalence study was conducted on repository serum specimens obtained from young Thai men entering the Royal Thai Army during 2007–2008. The overall nationwide leptospirosis IgG seroprevalence among these young Thai men was 28% (95% confidence interval = 26–30%) and the range by province was 10–52% confirming leptospirosis as an endemic disease throughout Thailand. Seroprevalence was highest in individuals with the lowest education from rural areas, and higher seroprevalence was found in the north and south regions contrary to current morbidity reports. Improvement in reporting and surveillance as well as better access to leptospirosis diagnostics will increase leptospirosis awareness and detection and enable more effective public health interventions.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

• Publication date

  2017-10-02

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0163PMID 29016321PMCID 5805037
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Global Morbidity and Mortality of Leptospirosis: A Systematic Review

  2015cited by this paper
• Leptospirosis in humans.

  2015cited by this paper
• Epidemiology of Leptospira Transmitted by Rodents in Southeast Asia

  2014cited by this paper
• Detection of Leptospira-specific antibodies using a recombinant antigen-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

  2013cited by this paper
• Outbreak of leptospirosis after a race in the tropical forest of Martinique.

  2011cited by this paper
• Leptospira as an emerging pathogen: a review of its biology, pathogenesis and host immune responses.

  2010cited by this paper
• Clinical Diagnosis and Geographic Distribution of Leptospirosis, Thailand

  2007influential reference
• A Dominant Clone of Leptospira interrogans Associated with an Outbreak of Human Leptospirosis in Thailand

  2007cited by this paper
• Seroprevalence of leptospirosis among high-risk population of Andaman Islands, India.

  2006cited by this paper
• Leptospirosis: an emerging health problem in Thailand.

  2005cited by this paper
• Leptospirosis: a zoonotic disease of global importance.

  2003cited by this paper
• The importance of leptospirosis in Southeast Asia.

  2002cited by this paper
• Nationwide surveillance of HIV-1 prevalence and subtype in young Thai men.

  1998cited by this paper
• Human leptospirosis in Thailand.

  1966influential reference

• A Design Thinking Approach to Developing an Innovative Board Game for Preventing Leptospirosis among Schoolchildren in Nan Province, Thailand

  2025cites this paper
• Leptospirosis outbreak in Ecuador in 2023: A pilot study for surveillance from a One Health perspective

  2024cites this paper
• Seroprevalence of leptospirosis among blood donors in an endemic area

  2023cites this paper
• Rodent–Human Interface: Behavioral Risk Factors and Leptospirosis in a Province in the Central Region of Thailand

  2022cites this paper
• Effects of rainfall on human leptospirosis in Thailand: evidence of multi-province study using distributed lag non-linear model

  2022cites this paper
• Association Between Antibiotic Treatment of Leptospirosis Infections and Reduced Risk of Dementia: A Nationwide, Cohort Study in Taiwan

  2022cites this paper
• Nationwide Seroprevalence of Scrub Typhus, Typhus, and Spotted Fever in Young Thai Men.

  2022cites this paper
• Integrated serological surveillance of acute febrile illness in the context of a lymphatic filariasis survey in Timor-Leste: a pilot study using dried blood spots

  2021cites this paper
• Evaluation of the Panbio Leptospira IgM ELISA among Outpatients Attending Primary Care in Southeast Asia

  2021cites this paper
• Modelling and analyzing spatial clusters of leptospirosis based on satellite-generated measurements of environmental factors in Thailand during 2013-2015.

  2020cites this paper
• Spatial epidemiological approaches to inform leptospirosis surveillance and control: A systematic review and critical appraisal of methods

  2018cites this paper