Abstract

ALVAREZ, Leonardo; CALDERON, Alfonso; RODRIGUEZ, Virginia  and  ARRIETA, Germán. SEROPREVALENCE OF CANINE LEPTOSPIROSIS IN A RURAL COMMUNITY IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF CIENAGA DE ORO, CÓRDOBA (COLOMBIA). rev.udcaactual.divulg.cient. [online]. 2011, vol.14, n.2, pp.75-81. ISSN 0123-4226.

Leptospirosis is a problem with public health implications. In dogs the disease is not always diagnosed, despite its diffusion and the role that the canines have as reservoirs of pathogenic leptospires, becoming an important source of infections for humans and species of zootechnical interest. It is necessary to study the epidemiology of canine leptospirosis in order to design strategies for prevention and control. To determine the seroprevalence of Leptospira interrognas and the most frequent serovars, an advanced cross sectional epidemiological study was carried out. Samples of 70 dogs over four months in the rural community of Berástegui township, municipality of Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, were analyzed through MAT with 14 serovars. A serum was considered positive with 50% of agglutination at a dilution ≥ 1:100 Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in the dog population was 47.14% and the highest frequency was for serovar gryppotyphosa with 37.14%, followed by icterohaemorrhagiae and pomona with 34.29% and 25.71% respectively. Seroprevalence, discriminated by the number of serotypes, was found in 10.01% of the infections that occurred by a single serovar, 5.72% for two, 4.24% for three and 27.17% for four or more serovars. A most frequent coagglutination pattern was grippotyphosa-icterohaemorrhagiae. The highest seroprevalences was found in males since it was the largest group in the canine population tested. These results suggest that the canine population may be a possible reservoir of leptospirosis in the studied area. It is necessary to conduct studies that permit the isolation and characterization of the serovars prevalent in this region.

Keywords : Canine; leptospirosis; serovars.

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