Leptospirosis and reproductive performance of sheep bred in São Paulo State, Brazil

ABSTRACT. Rizzo H., Gregory L., Beraldi F., Castro V., Morais Z.M. & Vasconcellos S.A. [Leptospirosis and reproductive performance of sheep bred in São Paulo State, Brazil.] Soropositividade para leptospirose e desempenho reprodutivo de ovinos de criatórios localizados no estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 36(3):244-250, 2014. Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Dr. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, Cidade Universitá- ria, São Paulo SP 05508-270, Brasil. Email: hubervet@gmail.com The association between leptospirosis serum reactivity and reproductive failure was investigated on 294 sheep from 28 farms on the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The samples were screened using microscopic serum agglutination with 24 serovars, the cut-off point was the dilution of 1:100. Biological samples from 16 abortion products, one uterus, six placentas, five samples of uterine discharge, five swabs with vaginal discharge, 17 semen samples, and three samples of preputial secretion, were submitted to bacterial cultivation and isolation on Fletcher media. Organs pools of seven aborted fetuses were screened trough PCR technique in order to find Leptospira sp. DNA. Leptospirosis serum reactive sheep with reproductive disturbances history proportion was 22.8% (67/294). 87 positive serum agglutination reactions (title > 100) were found with 15 different serovars. The most predominant were: Autumnalis (n=33), Icterohaemorrhagiae (n=11) e Hardjo (Hardjoprajitno) (n= nine) with titles ranging from 100 to 800. Positive animals association with endometritis was high OR=7.62 (p=0.021 and CI=1.36 – 42.72), abortion had low association OR-0.54 (p=0.046 and CI= 0.30 – 0.99). There was neither positive PCR test nor isolation. It was not possible to find the association between reproductive disturbances and leptospirosis serum reactivity on the sheep flocks studied on the State of São Paulo