Fig 1. Quantification of leptospiral DNA in tissues of hamsters infected with strains of L. interrogans serovars Manilae or Hebdomadis at 96 h pi.

Leptospiral DNA was quantified by real-time PCR targeting leptospiral flaB gene in blood (A), kidney (B), liver (C), and lung (D) tissues of hamsters infected with strains of L. interrogans serovars Manilae (filled boxes) or Hebdomadis (open boxes) at 96 h pi. The bottom, median, and top lines of the box indicate the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, respectively. The vertical line with whiskers shows the range of values. Experiments were performed in duplicate using two independently extracted DNA samples for each tissue of infected hamsters; each dot indicates the average of two experiments. Data out of the range of values were excluded from statistical analysis. **, p < 0.01.