This study investigated seroepidemiology of
Leptospira serovars among the dog keepers and their dogs in the city of Mwanza, Tanzania. A total of 205 dog keepers and 414 dogs were tested for
Leptospira antibodies using a microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The median age
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This study investigated seroepidemiology of
Leptospira serovars among the dog keepers and their dogs in the city of Mwanza, Tanzania. A total of 205 dog keepers and 414 dogs were tested for
Leptospira antibodies using a microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The median age of the dog keepers was 26 (inter quartile range (IQR): 17–40) years and median duration of keeping dogs was 36 (IQR: 24–120) months. The seropositivity of
Leptospira antibodies was (33/205 (16.1%, 95% CI: 11.0–21.1) among dog keepers and (66/414 (15.9%, 95% CI: 12.4–19.4) among dogs,
p = 0.4745. Among the serovars tested (Sokoine, Grippotyphosa, Kenya, Pomona and Hebdomadis), the most prevalent serovar was Sokoine in both dog keepers and their dogs (93.9% (31/33) vs. and 65.1% (43/66),
p = 0.009). Thirty-one out of thirty-three seropositive dog keepers (93.9%) had dogs positive for
Leptospira antibodies with 28 (84.9%) having similar serovars with their respective seropositive dogs. Having tertiary education (AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.07–0.84,
p = 0.026) independently protected individuals from being
Leptospira seropositive. More than three quarters of dog keepers had similar serovars as their dogs, necessitating one health approach to control measures in endemic areas.
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