A field-study on <it>Leptospira </it>seroprevalence in dairy cows in four geographical areas in Sweden
2011
Artursson Karin | Boqvist Sofia | Lindahl Elisabeth | Magnusson Ulf
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dairy cattle were used as sentinels for the presence of <it>Leptospira </it>infection in Swedish livestock in four regions contrasting in precipitation and temperature during the summer time. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of five serovars of <it>Leptospira </it>of low pathogenicity in dairy cattle in these four regions.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Around 150 blood samples were collected from five dairy farms from each region, making 610 samples in total, during December 2009. The samples were screened for <it>L. kirschneri </it>sv Grippotyphosa, <it>L. interrogans </it>sv Icterohaemorrhagiae, <it>L. interrogans </it>sv Canicola, <it>L. borgpetersenii </it>sv Sejroe and one domestic strain similar to sv Sejroe, called strain Mouse 2A using the Microscopic Agglutination Test. Six animals (1%) were seropositive for the strain Mouse 2A. Four of the positive samples were from the south-west region which also was the region with highest precipitation. There were no positive samples to any of the other serovars studied.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present data indicate that there is a low seroprevalence of <it>Leptospira </it>in Swedish dairy cows. These findings can be used as baseline data to investigate the effects of, for instance, climatic change or alterations in wildlife reservoir populations on the seroprevalence of <it>Leptospira </it>in the future.</p>
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