Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in sheep in Maku, Iran

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Ali Hassanpour, H Rezaei and M Khakpour

Islamic Azad University, Iran

: J Vet Sci Med Diagn

Abstract

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This study was conducted on 210 sheep in Maku area in Iran in order to determine sero prevalence of leptospiral infection. Sera were initially screened at dilution of 1:100 against 8 live serovars of Leptospira interrogans: pomona, canicola, hardjo, ballum, icterohaemorrhagiae, autumnalis, australis, and grippotyphosa using the microscopic agglutination test. The prevalence of leptospiral infection (at titers 100 and 200) was 15.23% in sheep. There was significant relationship between aging and the incidence of leptospiral infection (P<0.05) and there was no significant relationship between breed of the sheep and the incidence of leptospiral infection. The highest number of reactors in sheep (62%) was due to serovar canicola, followed in descending order by icterohaemorrhagiae (32%) and hardjo (6%). All off the sera were seronegatives for pomona, ballum, grippotyphosa and autumnalis. The majority of titre levels were between 100 and 200 for all the serovars. These results confirm that the majority of leptospiral infections are asymptomatic and the presence of antibodies in the absence of infection indicates exposure to the organism in these animals.

Biography

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Ali Hassanpour is an Animal Internist. He has completed his PhD from Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran. He is an Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran. He has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals.

Email: alihassanpour53@gmail.com