Ocorrência de Leptospira spp. em rebanho bubalino em sistema extensivo de criação

Abstract

Leptospirosis has a worldwide distribution and is considered a major disease of cattle. The disease is responsible for economic losses in both the production system and the reproductive sphere. Thus, the objective of this study was to report the occurrence of Leptospira spp. in buffalo herd in an extensive breeding system, in the State of Maranhão. For the study, blood samples were collected from 102 buffaloes belonging to a rural property, located in the municipality of São Mateus - MA, and tested for the presence of specific antibodies by the microscopic serum agglutination technique. The number of samples collected in this property was estimated considering a minimum prevalence of 6% for each infection, and a confidence interval of 95%. Of the 102 samples of buffalo sera analyzed, 70.58% were positive for one or more serovars of Leptospira spp. with variable titers ranging from 100 to 800. The most prevalent serovars in this study were Pomona, Butembo, Ichterhaemorrhagiae, Sentoti, Copenhageni, Adamanda, Castelonis, Wolffi, Panama and Grippotyphosa. The results of this study indicate that Leptospira spp. is widespread in the evaluated property and this pathogen can contribute to the reduction in production and productive and reproductive indexes of the herd.