Background:

Leptospirosis has been little studied in Ecuador, where it is highly prevalent in the coastal provinces.

Aim.

To identify histopathological patterns in the kidney, and their association to Leptospira spp. prevalence in pigs at the municipal Portoviejo canton slaughterhouse.

Methods:

The histological sections of 420 kidneys from slaughtered pigs were studied, which demonstrated an association between renal lesions and Leptospira seroprevalence. Comparison of the proportion method was performed and risk analysis using EPIDAT, version 3.1, for epidemiological analysis of tabulated data.

Results:

The presence of serovars Australis, Bratislava, Icterohaemorrhagiae, and Canicola was demonstrated to circulate in slaughter pigs, with an intermediate seroprevalence in these animals, thus posing a potential latent danger to susceptible humans. The seroprevalence detected in pigs corroborates the high percentage of lesions caused by Leptospira spp. in the kidneys of slaughter pigs. This evidence creates a significant alert to the personnel that handle and work with slaughtered pigs in the facility.

Conclusions:

Glumerulonephritis, tubular nephritis, interstitial nephritis, and glomerulitis appear in the kidneys of asymptomatic pigs, which are positive or not to Leptospira. spp, with a broad spectrum of lesions caused by the infection in these animals. Pigs with apparent interstitial nephritis were 3.5 more likely to test positive for MAT than the ones that showed no lesion.