Use of Golden Syrian Hamster as an Animal Model to Study Leptospirosis-Associated Immune Responses

Experimental infections greatly contribute to further deepen our knowledge of infectious diseases. In the case of leptospirosis, hamsters as well as gerbils and guinea pigs have been used as animal models of acute leptospirosis in studying the pathophysiology of the disease. Here we describe a typical Leptospira infection using golden Syrian hamsters. We will also present techniques we use to study the resulting bacterial burden and gene expression patterns in the host in order to decipher the innate immune response to leptospirosis.