• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1973

Cultural method, dark field microscopy & fluorescent antibody technique were compared for their sensitivity of the detection of leptospires from experimentally infected mice. Two groups of mice were infected with L. icterohemorrhagiae (M20) and L. australis (Ballico), and the infected blood, urine and a number of organs were subjected to the bacterial isolation. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. L. icterohemorrhagiae (M20) and L. australis (Ballico) in blood, urine and various tissues of experimentally infected mice were detected with a negrigible non specificity, by the fluorescent antibody technique. 2. The fluorescent antibody technique, as applied to detection of leptospires in blood, urine and various infected tissue, proved to be better than cultural method and dark-field microscopy. 3. Early detection of leptospires by fluorescent antibody technique were possible in blood at 2 days after inoculation, whereas detection of organisms in liver, spleen, lung and kidney were observed later. By means of fluorescent antibody technique, the detection of leptospires in kidney and urine was possible up to 34 days postinoculation, whereas those in other parts were impossible. 4. Fluorescent antibody reaction of leptospires were highly specific to homologous antigen rather than to heterologous one. 5. Fluorescent antibody technique may be of value in the application for the demonstration of leptospira from clinical specimens.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 1975

The rate of growth of Leptospires were studied by culturing in Korthof's media and Cox's liquid media which were treated at four different temperatures. The effect of thiamine hydrochloride in the culture of leptospires were also studied. The results obtained were summerized as followings: 1. The best growth of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae and Leptospira canicola was observed in Korthof's media with the rabbit serum heated for 60 minutes at $56^{\circ}C$. 2. A good degree of growth of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae and Leptospira canicola was observed in both Cox's liquid media with rabbit serum heated for 30 minutes at $100^{\circ}C$ and with fresh rabbit serum. 3. The growth of Leptospira was enhanced by adding small amount of thiamine to the both media which were shown to be unsatisfactory for the growth of the organisms. 4. Culture of leptospires were attained by simply heating for 30 minutes at $100^{\circ}C$ both Korthof's media and Cox's liquid media containing rabbit serum obtained without aspetic procedures.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.23 no.1 s.29
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• pp.57-64
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• 1990

Since the reservoir of leptospires organism is consisted of a broad spectrum of animals, the best method of prevention is vaccination. The clinical trial of leptospires vaccine conducted on human volunteer for its immunogenicity and safety. Summarized results are as following : 1. The Oral temperature among vaccinated group ranged from $36.7{\pm}0.46^{\circ}C\;to\;37.0{\pm}0.34^{\circ}C$, while in placebo injected group it ranged from $36.4{\pm}0.46^{\circ}C\;to\;36.7{\pm}0.53^{\circ}C$. There was no association between vaccination and fever (p>0.05) 2. Mild local reactions revealed in vaccinees were swelling (50-75% ), Redness($75{\sim}90%$), and induration ($25{\sim}40%$). Placebo injected group revealed only redness in 12.5% in 1st injection and 37.5% in second injection. The duration local reactions on injection site for th vaccinees and place groups disappeared within 48 hours. 3. Generalized Symptoms complained by the vaccinees were myalgia (25%), back pain(15%), headache (15%), pruritus(15%), and abdominal pain(10%), whereas placebo group complained of headache (25%), myalgia(12.5%), back pain(12.5%), pain in eyes(12.5%), abdominal pain(12.5%) pruritus (12.5%) and nausea(12.5%). 4. The serological test(MAT) of vaccinees showed geometric mean antibody titer as follows : a. L. icterohemorrhagiae lai 1 week after 1st vaccination : 22.45 1 week after 2nd vaccination : 111.23 3 week after 2nd vaccination : 266.64 b. L. canicola canicola 1 week after 1st vaccination : 24.62 1 week after 2nd vaccination : 123.92 3 week after 2nd vaccination : 276.55 c. L. icterohemorrhagiae copenhageni 1 week after 1st vaccination : 28.28 1 week after 2nd vaccination : 128.55 3 week after 2nd vaccination : 247.88 Whereas all of the place injected group showed below 1:20 titers. The sero-conversion rate of vaccinees were 100 percent.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.211-226
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• 1986

To understand the pathogenesis of anicteric leptospirosis with severe pulmonary hemorrhage occured in Korea, the microbiological and pathological features were observed in the experimentally induced leptospirosis in guinea pigs infected with a virulent strain of Leptospira interrogans isolated from the patient at Wonju, Korea, and the results are summarized as follows. 1. The main pathological features were widespread hemorrhages, especially affecting lung, skeletal muscles, retroperitoneal and perirenal adipose tissues. The hemorrhages accompanied inflammatory process especially of vasculitic pattern as well as occasional coagulation necrosis in the liver, skeletal muscle, and myocardium. The main inflammatory cells were of plasma cell even in the fairly early stage of the infection. 2. Those pathologic changes were more exaggerated in the inoculation site. 3. Within 144 hours of infection, the longer the infection time, the more antigens were observed in the tissues, and the severer the pathologic changes. 4. Leptospiral antigens were detected at first by indirect immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase technics. As the infection time extended, the antigens were observed in all of the tissues examined except in the skeletal muscle. The shape of the antigens was spiral or thread-like within 72 hours of infection. As the infection progressed, they became fragmented and granular. 5. Leptospires were detected in the blood within 144 hours of infection by darkfield microscopic examination. Thereafter, none was observed. 6. Antibody to leptospires were detected as early as 72 hours of infection. In summary, the virulent strain of L. interrogans used in this experiment induced widespread hemorrhages with inflammatory reaction especially in lung, skeletal muscles, and retroperitoneal adipose tissue. With these findings, it is suggested that the direct toxic effect of leptospires might playa great role in the pathogenesis of this infection.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.463-471
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• 1987

The genomes of leptospiral field isolates from Korea belonging to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae (21 strains) and serogroup Canicola (1 strain) were analysed and compared by restriction enzyme analysis with EcoRI and HindIII as digesting enzymes. One isolate belonging to serogroup Canicola showed the same pattern as serovar portlandvere. All 21 isolates belonging to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae showed almost same patterns as Leptospira serovar lai from China, But with very slight differences 21 isolates could be classified into 8 subtypes and these grouping seems to reflect the differences in epidemiological niche. And also the geographical data consisted with the grouping into 8 subtypes. According to our results, we concluded that the restriction endonuclease analysis of chromosomal DNA will be an accurate and reliable method to compare and classify pathogenic leptospires.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.253-257
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• 2004

The mechanisms by which leptospires caused disease are not well understood. A number of putative virulence factors have been suggested, but with few exceptions their role in pathogenesis remains unclear. In these days, many cases of leptospirosis are diagnosed by serological immunoassay. Leptospirosis is characterized by the histopathology of liver, kidney, heart, and lung, but the electrophoresis fractions of serum protein are not compared. We analyzed total protein, albumin, aspartic aminotranferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine and urea nitrogen (UN) in sera of patients diagnosed leptospirosis. Total protein and albumin were decreased in 18.5％ and 31.2％ of patients, respectively. AST, ALT, ALP, UN and creatinine were increased in 90.4％, 66.9％, 28.0％, 15.9％ and 10.8％ of patients, respectively. We performed cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis (EP) on sera of patients increased both of AST and ALT, and of patients increased both of creatinine and UN. In patients increased both of AST and ALT, and in patients increased both of AST and ALT, the relative percentage of albumin to total protein in patient serum was dcreased in 89.1 ％ of patients. α₁-globulin, α₂-globulin, β-globulin and γ-globulin were increased in 85.1 ％, 75.2％, 33.6％ and 98.0％ of patients, respectively. In patients increased both of creatinine and UN, the relative percentage of albumin to total protein in patient serum was dcreased in 93.8％ of patients. α₁-globulin, α₂-globulin, β-globulin and γ-globulin were increased in 87.5％, 100％, 31.2％ and 93.8％ of patients, respectively. These data indicate that infection of Leptospira causes severe liver damage to most of leptospirosis patients, but doesn't cause renal damage to most of them. The relative rate of serum protein electrophoresis fractions to total protein are not identical with them of typical hepatitis patient.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.153-156
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• 1991

The study on leptospiral infection among cows was carried out to find out possible role of this domestic animal as an infection source for humans, and the magnitude of economic loss due to abortions caused by leptospiral infections among the domestic animal. Bood samples of 459 cows in May and 446 heads in November 1989 were collected from 19 villages of Kyunggi Province. These samples were cultured and serologically tested. Only one strain of leptospires, most strongly reactive to Pomona antibody, was isolated from duplicated cultures of 985 cow blood samples in EMJH medium. Serological test by MAT with seven reference strains and three locally isolated strains was positive in 12% of the sample in May and 26% in November ; positive rate increased slightly as the age of cows increased and male cows had higher positive rate, however, there was on difference in positive rate by type of cow and area. There was no statistically significant association between abortion history among cows(one yearperiod) and positive MAT. Thus it was concluded that the leptospiral infection of cows may play a role for human infection, and the leptospiral infection of cow may not be the major cause of abortion although further study is necessary for definite conclusion.