Preliminary serological study of Leptospira spp. in a sheep flock on the savannah of Bogotá

Abstract

The research aimed to conduct a serological study on leptospirosis in a sheep flock on the savannah of Bogotá, in order to detect the presence of this agent and to broaden knowledge on its tendency in our field. There were two visits to the farm, one during the dry season ( January) and another one in the rainy season (May), to check 250 animals in each season, which were 100 males and 150 females of different races living on the farm. Microscopic agglutination test was used to determine the presence of antibodies to the six serovars that have been identified as the most frequent in Colombia in different domestic species. The results of the study indicated that the most common serovar in sheep was L. interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae, followed by L. interrogans serovar Bratislava, L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo, L. interrogans serovars Canicola, Pomona and Grippotyphosa. The research concluded that, even though there were no clinical cases reported during the study, leptospirosis associated with different serovars in sheep suggests the presence of the agent in the herd; new studies would be necessary to deepen our knowledge on the effect this would have on reproduction.

Keywords

• leptospira
• ovinos
• prueba de microaglutinación
• sabana de Bogotá