Drivers of human Leptospira infection in the Pacific Islands: A systematic review.

ABSTRACT: Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis that poses an increasing global public health risk. Pacific Island communities are highly vulnerable to leptospirosis outbreaks, yet the local drivers of infection remain poorly understood. We conducted a systematic review to identify the drivers of human Leptospira infection in the Pacific Islands. There were 42 included studies from which findings were synthesized descriptively. In tropical Pacific Islands, infections were a product of sociodemographic factors such as male gender/sex, age 20 to 60 years, Indigenous ethnicity, and poverty; lifestyle factors such as swimming, gardening, and open skin wounds; and environmental factors, including seasonality, heavy rainfall, and exposure to rodents, cattle, and pigs. Possible mitigation strategies

SUBMITTER: Kharwadkar S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11474764 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature