The new species, Leptospira licerasiae, was discovered by Dr. Joseph Vinetz, professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego's School of Medicine, and colleagues from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia of Lima, Peru.
The bacteria, found from a very small number of patients and eight rats infected with leptospirosis, is genetically different from other forms of the Leptospira and possesses new biological features.
Newswise.com quoted Vinetz as saying that the new strain "is so unique that antibodies for the disease don't react to the regular tests for leptospirosis." The researchers also found many patients with antibodies that react only to such type of bacteria, indicating a higher incidence of the new leptospirosis strain than previously suspected.
Leptospirosis is a severe water-borne disease transmitted from animals to humans. The disease infects tens of millions of people worldwide, mostly in tropical countries, each year. Poor people living under highly crowded condition or rural residents exposed to water contaminated by the urine of Leptospira-infected animals, such as rats, are highly vulnerable to the disease.
Symptoms of leptospirosis are jaundice, renal failure and lung hemorrhage. Severe infection is fatal.
