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Pathogenic Leptospira DNA Was Detected in 3.1% of 1,281 Wild Boar Kidneys in Germany

Wild boar in snowy woodland in Germany
Research · Disease, parasites & microbiology

A study of wild boar (Sus scrofa) hunted in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, in 2024 found DNA from pathogenic Leptospira in 3.1% of 1,281 kidney samples. DNA from intermediate Leptospira was detected in a further 0.6%. Intermediate leptospires form a group whose ability to cause disease is less well understood than that of the main pathogenic species.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria in the genus Leptospira. Pathogenic leptospires can persist in the kidneys of carrier animals and be shed in urine, contaminating water and soil; this is why detection in apparently healthy wild boar matters for understanding environmental transmission.

The researchers tested kidney material using real-time PCR and examined differences among districts, age classes, seasons and sexes. Pathogenic Leptospira DNA was detected across most of the study area, with the highest prevalence in Salzlandkreis at 9.3%. Sub-adults had the highest prevalence among the age classes at 4.9%, while autumn had the highest seasonal prevalence at 5.8%. No clear difference was found between males and females.

L. interrogans dominated the positive samples

Sequence analysis identified Leptospira interrogans in 62.5% of the pathogenic-positive samples, followed by L. borgpetersenii at 20.0% and L. kirschneri at 5.0%; some positive samples could not be characterized further. All intermediate sequences with sufficient data belonged to L. fainei. According to the authors, this is the first molecular evidence of intermediate L. fainei DNA in wild-boar kidneys in Germany.

Wild boar can act as renal carriers

The authors conclude that wild boar can act as renal carriers of Leptospira. Detecting the bacteria’s DNA in kidney tissue is consistent with current renal colonization and therefore with the potential for bacteria to be shed in urine and enter the environment. The sampled wild boar were apparently healthy, so the findings do not mean that they had clinical leptospirosis.

Sources and image credit

  1. Stagnoli, A., House, R. V., Dohmann, K., Prüser, T. F., Geuthner, A.-C., Albrecht, C., & Pfeffer, M. (2026). Wild boar (Sus scrofa) as reservoir of pathogenic and intermediate Leptospira. Animals, 16(7), 1025. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16071025Primary open-access research article published 27 March 2026. Among 1,281 wild-boar kidney samples from Saxony-Anhalt, pathogenic Leptospira DNA was detected in 3.1% and intermediate Leptospira DNA in 0.6%. Pathogenic detections were significantly associated with sub-adult age class and autumn. The study reports the first molecular evidence of intermediate L. fainei DNA in wild-boar kidneys in Germany.

Image: Holger Krisp / Wikimedia Commons — wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Ringingen near Erbach, Germany, 15 December 2019. Illustrative photograph, not an animal from the Leptospira study. CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ · CC BY 3.0 · Source

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