Etiology of reproductive disorders in an organized cattle dairy farm: A case study on leptospirosis and brucellosis

Abstract

Reproductive disorders and abortions in dairy cattle are generally caused by various infectious agents. Ruling out of the actual etiological agent (s) is an important step towards prevention by designing the suitable control measures. The present study was conducted in a cattle dairy farm which was associated with history of suffering from reproductive disorders and abortions. The study was focused on the two main infectious abortifacient agents viz., Leptospira and Brucella in the infected dairy farm. During the investigation, a total of 68 serum samples were collected and examined for detection of anti-leptospiral antibodies using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT), the gold standard serological test and Rose Bengal Plate Test for detection of anti-brucella antibodies for the diagnosis of these diseases, respectively. The Chi-square test was employed to identify the important risk factors associated with exposure to brucellosis and leptospirosis. The observed seropositivity was 4.4% and 11.8% for brucellosis and leptospirosis respectively. Further, the reproductive disorder status of the animal was significantly associated with exposure to brucellosis and leptospirosis in a dairy cattle farm. The prevalent predominant serovars observed were Tarsalis, Djasmine, Hebdomadis, Icterohaemorrhagiae, and Grippotyphosa. The present results suggest that, the Leptospira and Brucella were the causative agents for the reproductive disorders and these zoonotic agents are circulating in a dairy cattle farm and it warrants to design of suitable control measures to prevent the entry and elimination of these pathogens in the farm.