Experimental Leptiospira pomona infection of boars, including studies on transmission of infection by coitus

Abstract

Four boars inoculated intramuscularly with L. pomona showed agglutinins and excreted leptospirae in the urine.
No clinical evidence of infection' was seen.
Leptospiruria first occurred at 25 days in one boar, at 28 days in two and at 31 days in one. It was intermittent in all four animals, extending over periods of 16 to 21 days.
At slaughter, nine weeks after infection, the kidneys of all four boars showed greyish-white lesions of variable size, shape and distribution. The histological picture of the lesions was that of a focal interstitial nephritis. No abnormality was seen in the liver or testes.
Two of the boars were each mated during leptospiruria with three non-infected sows. None of the sows developed leptospiruria or showed antibodies against L. pomona.