PCR amplification of the rrs2 gene indicated that 50% (62/124) of insectivorous bats from eastern China were infected with Leptospira borgpetersenii, L. kirschneri, and several potentially new Leptospira species. Multilocus sequence typing defined 3 novel sequence types in L. kirschneri, suggesting that bats are major carriers of Leptospira.
Keywords: China; Eptesicus serotinus; Leptospira; MLST; Mengyin; Myotis fimbriatus; Myotis pequinius; Myotis ricketti; Shandong; bacteria; bat; multilocus sequence typing; rrs2; vector-borne infections; zoonoses.