International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Reply Reply to Detection of Leptospira interrogans DNA in Urine of a Captive Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) Andrea Murillo 1, * , Rafaela Cuenca 1 , Emmanuel Serrano 2 , Goris Marga 3 , Ahmed Ahmed 3 , Salvador Cervantes 4 , Cristina Caparrós 4 , Verónica Vieitez 5 , Andrea Ladina 5 and Josep Pastor 1 1 Department de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona (UAB), CP 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; rafaela.cuenca@uab.es (R.C.); Josep.Pastor@uab.cat (J.P.) 2 Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), CP 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; emmanuel.serrano@uab.cat 3 OIE and National Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis (NRL), Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Medical Microbiology, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; m.goris@amsterdamumc.nl (G.M.); a.ahmed@amsterdamumc.nl (A.A.) 4 Clínica Felina Barcelona, CP 08015 Barcelona, Spain; clinicafelinabarcelona@gmail.com (S.C.); cristinacapa94@gmail.com (C.C.) 5 Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Extremadura, CP 10003 Cáceres, Spain; vvieitez@gmail.com (V.V.); rabacha@unex.es (A.L.) * Correspondence: dianaandrea.murillo@e-campus.uab.cat; Tel.: +34-93-581-31-09 In reply to a comment, we want to mention that we consider this report significant in   animal leptospirosis. The presence of leptospiral DNA in the urine of a captive wild cat supports findings described in previous reports [1,2], as in our study, where leptospiral Citation: Murillo, A.; Cuenca, R.; DNA is detected in urine without the presence of anti-leptospiral antibodies. Serrano, E.; Marga, G.; Ahmed, A.; Cervantes, S.; Caparrós, C.; Vieitez, V.; This finding further increases the likelihood that domestic and wild cats play a key role Ladina, A.; Pastor, J. Reply to in the maintenance and transmission of Leptospira spp. The methodology used in this work Detection of Leptospira interrogans was similar to ours. Concerning the MAT technique, we would like to mention that the DNA in Urine of a Captive Ocelot panel of serovars used was wide and followed the suggestions of the World Organization (Leopardus pardalis). Int. J. Environ. for Animal Health. There are differences in some of the serovars used between studies, but Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 796. this is normal. For the accurate diagnostic and epidemiological surveillance of leptospirosis, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020 it is imperative to use endemic serovars in the geographic region. 796 Concerning the PCR methodology, it was not only used for the detection of the lipL32 gene (present only in pathogenic Leptospira spp.), one step further was taken, and Received: 29 December 2020 a sequence that allowed the identification of the pathogenic Leptospira spp. as Leptospira Accepted: 15 January 2021 interrogans was made. Published: 19 January 2021 In conclusion, we are aware that this type of research helps us to improve our knowl- edge about leptospirosis in terms of its epidemiology and reservoir animals. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in Funding: This research received no external funding. published maps and institutional affil- Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. iations. References 1. Spribler, F.; Jongwattanapisan, P.; Luengyosluechakul, S.; Pusoonthornthum, R.; Prapasarakul, N.; Kurilung, A.; Goris, M.; Ahmed, A.; Reese, S.; Bergmann, M.; et al. Leptospira infection and Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. shedding in cats in Thailand. Transbound. Emerg. Dis. 2019, 66, 948–956. [CrossRef] [PubMed] Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. 2. Alashraf, A.R.; Lau, S.F.; Khairani-Bejo, S.; Khor, K.H.; Ajat, M.; Radzi, R.; Roslan, M.A.; This article is an open access article Rahman, M.S.A. First report of pathogenic Leptospira spp. isolated from urine and kidneys of distributed under the terms and naturally infected cats. PLoS ONE 2020, 15, e0230048. [CrossRef] [PubMed] conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 796. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020796 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph