Epidemiological patterns of Leptospira interrogans among slaughterhouse workers from the Eastern United States-Mexico border region

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2005 to August 2006 in order to determine the epidemiological patterns of leptospirosis among Mexican slaughterhouse workers in the United States-Mexico border region. Serum samples (n = 292) were obtained from workers at municipal and federal-inspected slaughterhouses and they were analyzed with the microagglutination test in order to detect antibodies against L. interrogans; risk factors were determined with the prevalence ratio. The overall seroprevalence was 8.22\%, identifying the serovars Hardjo (56.52\%), Bratislava (56.52\%), Pomona pomona (13.04\%), Muenchen (13.04\%), Canicola hond utrech IV (8.7\%) and Wolffi (4.35\%). Leptospirosis was associated with the municipality in which the slaughterhouse was located and with municipal slaughterhouses, worker's age and their daily income, education level, rural household with soil floor, source of drinking water, use of outhouses and non-chlorine water, presence of rats in the workers' house and feeding of their dogs and cats with guts of the slaughtered animals.