A Comparative Study of Human Leptospirosis between Mayotte and Reunion Islands Highlights Distinct Clinical and Microbial Features Arising from Distinct Inter-Island Bacterial Ecology

Anissa Desmoulin Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Pierre, France;
Centre Hospitalier de Mayotte, Mamoudzou, France;

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Arline Rajaonarivelo Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249, Plateforme de recherche CYROI, Sainte-Clotilde, France;

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Olivier Maillard Centre d’Investigation Clinique, INSERM CIC 1410, Saint-Pierre, France;
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, France;

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Louis Collet Centre Hospitalier de Mayotte, Mamoudzou, France;

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Marie-Christine Jaffar-Bandjee Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, France;

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Marie-Pierre Moiton Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, France;

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Patrice Poubeau Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Pierre, France;

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Stéphanie Fayeulle Groupe Hospitalier Est Réunion, Saint-Benoît, France;

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Claire François-Wattrelot Centre Hospitalier Ouest Réunion, Saint-Paul, France

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Renaud Blondé Centre Hospitalier de Mayotte, Mamoudzou, France;

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Pablo Tortosa Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249, Plateforme de recherche CYROI, Sainte-Clotilde, France;

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Loïc Raffray Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249, Plateforme de recherche CYROI, Sainte-Clotilde, France;
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, France;

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ABSTRACT.

Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonosis for which investigations assessing host-pathogen interaction are scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the severity and bacterial species involved in human cases of leptospirosis on Reunion and Mayotte islands, territories located in the southwest Indian Ocean that have recorded high human leptospirosis incidence but display fairly distinct epidemiological situations. A retrospective multicentric study including all patients over 18 years of age from Mayotte or Reunion with proven leptospirosis was conducted from January 2018 to April 2020. This study collected demographic, geographical, clinical, and biological data. Overall, 490 patients were included, 222 on Mayotte and 268 on Reunion. More patients were hospitalized on Reunion (n = 215, 80%) compared with Mayotte (n = 102, 46%). Severe disease was more common on Reunion (n = 75, 28%) than on Mayotte (n = 22, 10%). The dominant Leptospira species on Reunion was Leptospira interrogans (79%) followed by Leptospira borgpetersenii (21%), contrasting with the epidemiological situation on Mayotte where L. interrogans was found in only a minority of patients (10%). The high frequency of severe cases on Reunion could be explained not only by higher comorbidities but also by the higher occurrence of L. interrogans infections compared with Mayotte. Finally, the distribution of cases linked to L. borgpetersenii was found almost exclusively on the west coast of Reunion, raising the potential role of a ruminant reservoir.

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Author Notes

Disclosures: The study received a favorable opinion from the ethics committee of the Société de Pathologie Infectieuse de Langue Française (SPILF), N° CER-MIT 2022-0505. The data presented in this study are available in the Supplementary Materials.

Authors’ contributions: Conceptualization: A. Desmoulin, O. Maillard, and L. Raffray; Data curation: A. Desmoulin, A. Rajaonarivelo, and L. Raffray; Formal analysis: O. Maillard; Investigation: A. Desmoulin, A. Rajaonarivelo, and L. Raffray; Methodology: A. Desmoulin and O. Maillard; Supervision: P. Tortosa and L. Raffray; Validation: A. Desmoulin, O. Maillard, and L. Raffray; Writing – original draft: A. Desmoulin and L. Raffray; and Writing – review and editing: L. Collet, M.-C. Jaffar-Bandjee, M.-P. Moiton, P. Poubeau, S. Fayeulle, C. François-Wattrelot, R. Blondé, and P. Tortosa.

Current contact information: Anissa Desmoulin and Patrice Poubeau, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Pierre, France, E-mails: anissa.desmoulin@hotmail.fr and patrice.poubeau@chu-reunion.fr. Arline Rajaonarivelo and Pablo Tortosa, Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CNRS 9192, INSERM 1187, IRD 249. Plateforme de recherche CYROI, 2 rue Maxime Rivière, 97490 Ste Clotilde, France, E-mails: rajaonaryline@gmail.com and pablo.tortosa@univ-reunion.fr. Olivier Maillard, Centre d’Investigation Clinique, INSERM CIC 1410, Saint-Pierre, France, E-mail: olivier.maillard@chu-reunion.fr. Louis Collet and Renaud Blondé, Centre Hospitalier de Mayotte, Mamoudzou, France, E-mails: l.collet@chmayotte.fr and renaud.blonde@chu-reunion.fr. Marie-Christine Jaffar-Bandjee, Marie-Pierre Moiton, and Loïc Raffray, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, France, E-mails: marie-christine.jaffarbandjee@chu-reunion.fr, marie-pierre.moiton@chu-reunion.fr, and loic.raffray@chu-reunion.fr. Stéphanie Fayeulle, Groupe Hospitalier Est Réunion, Saint-Benoît, France, E-mail: s.fayeulle@gher.fr. Claire François-Wattrelot, Centre Hospitalier Ouest Réunion, Saint-Paul, France, E-mail: cl.francois@chor.re.

Address correspondence to Anissa Desmoulin, Department of Infectious Diseases, Groupe Hospitalier Sud Réunion, Ave. du Président François Mitterrand, 97410 Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France. E-mail: anissa.desmoulin@hotmail.fr
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