Abstract

Background: The south of Chile constitutes the main cattle milk producing area of the country. Regarding leptospirosis control in Chile, there is neither an official program nor an epidemiological characterization of smallholder dairy farms. This study was carried out to determine Leptospira seroprevalence and to evaluate risk factors associated with seropositivity at herd level in smallholder bovine dairy herds in southern Chile. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and a convenient sample of 1,537 apparently healthy dairy cows was included in the study. Individual blood samples were taken and examined for six selected reference Leptospira serovars by the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT).Results: Of the included herds 75% (52/69) showed serological titers against one or more Leptospira serovar. Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo was the serovar most frequently (81%) reported from animals with positive results. The variables considered risk factors for Leptospira seropositivity were calve natural breeding system, using a specific calving area and vaccination against Leptospira. Adult cows in contact with calves weaned, proved to be a protective factor against infection.Conclusions: Herds neglecting the management practices mentioned in this study could represent an important source of Leptospira infection for other herds in the same geographic area, as well as for other animal species.

Keywords

Leptospira; Seropositivity; MAT; Iinfection; Risk factors; Herd

Published in

BMC Veterinary Research
2014, Volume: 10
Publisher: BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

SLU Authors

• Boqvist, Sofia

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages


UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-6148-10-126

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/67691