Prevalencia de leptospirosis bovina en dos localidades de Puno en época de seca y determinación de factores de riesgo

Leptospirosis is a disease caused by a spirochet of the genus Leptospira. It is a world-wide zoonotic disease with a great economic impact because of the important losses that causes to livestock farmers, especially in terms of reproduction performance and milk yield loses. The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of leptospirosis in bovines in two farms in the department of Puno, Peru: the ILLPA-INIA Experimental Station and Cardenas farm at Mañazo and its association with season and age. One hundred and sixteen serum samples collected during the dry season were evaluated. Blood samples were collected to all animals in both farms. The Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) was used for the detection of antibodies through a set of four serovars (canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, pomona, and hardjo). The total prevalence was 2.6% while 1.3% corresponded to animals at ILLPA-INIA and 5.3% to animals at Mañazo. The icterohaemorrhagiae was the only prevalent serovar and the level of antibodies was 1:200. The results suggested a low prevalence of Leptospira sp. in the dry season in the area of study.