Leptospira alstonii
Leptospira alstonii is a gram negative, mobile, spirochete. It is flexible, helical, and motile by means of two periplasmic flagella (axial fibrils). It is obligately aerobic and oxidase positive. It was named after J. M. Alston, a British microbiologist who made significant contributions to the study of "Leptospirosis". It is one of nine human or animal pathogenic species of "Leptospira". It was originally isolated from material submitted to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University during an outbreak of swine abortion in 1983. It has been isolated and stored in liquid nitrogen or Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris  medium. It also has been isolated in China from a frog. The strain is also available from culture collections of the WHO collaborating centers. Lipase is not produced by this species. NaCl is not required for growth. Growth is inhibited by 8-azaguanine at 225 µg/mL or 2,6-diaminopurine (10 µg/mL) and copper sulfate. It contains serovars from the serogroup ranarum. DNA G+C content is 39±8 mol%.