Lagadec, ErwanGomard, YannLe Minter, GildasCordonin, ColetteCardinale, EricRamasindrazana, BezaDietrich, MurielGoodman, Steven M.Tortosa, PabloDellagi, Koussay2016-10-142016-10-142016-08-30Lagadec E, Gomard Y, Le Minter G, Cordonin C, Cardinale E, Ramasindrazana B, et al. (2016) Identification of Tenrec ecaudatus, a Wild Mammal Introduced to Mayotte Island, as a Reservoir of the Newly Identified Human Pathogenic Leptospira mayottensis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10(8): e0004933. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004933.1935-2727 (print)1935-2735 (online)10.1371/journal.pntd.0004933http://hdl.handle.net/2263/57326S1 Fig. Distribution of small mammals sampling sites on Mayotte. Numbers correspond to the 18 sampling sites where Rattus rattus and Tenrec ecaudatus (white) and bats (orange) were trapped. Map was created with QGIS 2.8.1 (QGIS Development Team, 2016, QGIS Geographic Information System, Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project). Photography of Mayotte: BD Topo IGN, 2008.S2 Fig. The figures A and B display Bayesian phylogenetic trees of pathogenic Leptospira from Mayotte (blue) and Madagascar (green) based on 452 bp (57 taxa, HKY+I+G) (A) and 245 bp (64 taxa, K80+I) (B) of the rrs2 gene. At the nodes, the black numbers indicate posterior probabilities. The sequences highlighted in grey (A) and red (B) represent PCR positive samples for which only the rrs2 gene was obtained. Strain numbers of cultures produced herein are indicated in parentheses, “K” and “U” designating sequences obtained from kidney or urine, respectively. Specimen system: MDI and MAY = CRVOI specimen catalogue during field trips to Mayotte; all Canis lupus familiaris were sampled during field trips to Mayotte; FMNH = Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; UADBA = Université d’Antananarivo, Département de Biologie Animale, Madagascar; for the other bacterial sequences from Homo sapiens and Microgale spp. see Bourhy et al. 2012 [15]and Dietrich et al. 2014 [4]. Museum numbers for Microgale spp.: 575 = UADBA 30869; 588 = UADBA 30289; 590 = UADBA 30291; 1335 = UADBA 32122; 1453 = UADBA 32125; 1467 = UADBA 32101.Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis of major concern on tropical islands. Human populations on western Indian Ocean islands are strongly affected by the disease although each archipelago shows contrasting epidemiology. For instance, Mayotte, part of the Comoros Archipelago, differs from the other neighbouring islands by a high diversity of Leptospira species infecting humans that includes Leptospira mayottensis, a species thought to be unique to this island. Using bacterial culture, molecular detection and typing, the present study explored the wild and domestic local mammalian fauna for renal carriage of leptospires and addressed the genetic relationships of the infecting strains with local isolates obtained from acute human cases and with Leptospira strains hosted by mammal species endemic to nearby Madagascar. Tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus, Family Tenrecidae), a terrestrial mammal introduced from Madagascar, is identified as a reservoir of L. mayottensis. All isolated L. mayottensis sequence types form a monophyletic clade that includes Leptospira strains infecting humans and tenrecs on Mayotte, as well as two other Malagasy endemic tenrecid species of the genus Microgale. The lower diversity of L. mayottensis in tenrecs from Mayotte, compared to that occurring in Madagascar, suggests that L. mayottensis has indeed a Malagasy origin. This study also showed that introduced rats (Rattus rattus) and dogs are probably the main reservoirs of Leptospira borgpetersenii and Leptospira kirschneri, both bacteria being prevalent in local clinical cases. Data emphasize the epidemiological link between the two neighbouring islands and the role of introduced small mammals in shaping the local epidemiology of leptospirosis.en© 2016 Lagadec et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.LeptospirosisTropical islandsHumansMadagascarArticle