Ciência Animal Brasileira (Jun 2012)
MASTITE E SÍNDROME DA QUEDA DO LEITE / INFECÇÃO POR Leptospira interrogans EM OVELHAS DA RAÇA SANTA INÊS NO DISTRITO FEDERAL
Abstract
The aim of the present work was to determine the relationship between clinical mastitis and Leptospira interrogans / Milk Drop Syndrome in Santa Inês ewes. One thousand sheep were examined on 12 farms in the Distrito Federal, Brazil, as to their clinical condition, in order to identify animals with clinical mastitis. The animals were divided into two groups: animals which presented clinical mastitis symptoms (G1) and animals which did not have clinical mastitis symptoms (G2). Blood samples were collected from all ewes of the two groups. The microscopic agglutination test was performed in order to identify the seropositive animals to Leptospira spp. Four (4.08%) animals of the first group were seropositives to Leptospira spp., of which three were positives to Hardjoprajitno (Norma) and Hardjoprajitno (OMS) sorovars and one to both Australis and Autumnalis sorovars. In the second group, two (5.26%) animals were seropositives to both Hardjoprajitno (Norma) and Hardjoprajitno (OMS) sorovars. A relationship between Leptospira spp. infection / milk drop syndrome and the presence of clinical mastitis in ewes (p > 0.05) was not observed.