This research carried out in the city of Curitiba took us to the following conclusions: 1) In the main zone of Curitiba city the leptospirosis index among the rats captured reached 78 percent. This index represent the greatest incidence verified till the present moment in Brazil. 2) The ‘Rattus norwegicus’ was the chief species among those rats (96 percent). 3) According to the results presented, the culturing methods are preferable to the inoculating one. 4) The combination of these two simple methods is more advantageous in the leptospira research.
Leptospirosis; Weil disease; Rattus norwegicus
