RESUMO Entrevistas com 25 proprietários de rebanhos com produção diária acima de 500 litros de leite, sorteados da listagem da cooperativa de Passos

In addition to personal interviews, laboratory analyses were performed using 80 water samples from 45 rural areas that are crossed by the Agua Limpa and Santa Cruz streams close to the city of Lavras, southern Minas Gerais State. The results allowed comparing the quality of water used for agriculture and the identification of determinant factors. The Agua Limpa stream mostly crosses an area used primarily for housing and characterized by low schooling. Many houses are supplied by shallow water wells and have ordinary cesspits for human waste disposal. All springs are polluted. The Santa Cruz stream displays a different scenario. The land is used mostly for agricultural purposes. Most owners live in town, with widely varied levels of school, from none to university. The houses are supplied by surface water. Most of the springs are polluted. The perception by both home and land owners concerning quality of the drinking water is determined solely by the water's physical and organoleptic characteristics. Sanitary parameters are not taken into account. Moreover, there is no relationship between fecal contamination and the type of spring. Land use and anthropic activity are far more important than the type of spring for water quality.

Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) rickettsiosis is the most common and recognized of the human rickettsioses in Brazil. It is difficult to establish the diagnosis of human rickettsiosis infection by routine microbiologic methods, creating a false idea that Rickettsia and Ehrlichia infections are rare and without importance. New tick-borne diseases, like human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) and human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), have been described in many countries. These diseases can present symptoms similar to rickettsioses of the spotted fever group, and they are transmitted by ixodid ticks. The first two suspected cases of human ehrlichiosis in Brazil were first considered to be cases of BSF. The differential diagnosis was made at the Minas Gerais Rickettsiosis Public Health Laboratory. The clinical and laboratory findings, with positive serology for the HME agent, indicated suspected cases of human ehrlichioses in Brazil.

RESUMOOs objetivos desta pesquisa foram simular, analisar e quantificar o impacto econômico da frequência média anual de mastite clínica em rebanhos bovinos leiteiros. A pesquisa foi realizada por meio de simulação no sistema computacional CU$TO MASTITE, considerando rebanhos leiteiros com 1, 7 e 15% de mastite clínica. Foram consideradas como prevenção as despesas com monitoramento (cultura e antibiograma, contagem de células somáticas no tanque e contagem de células somática individual), pré e pós dipping, vacinação, tratamento de vacas secas e manutenção de ordenhadeira. Como medida curativa considerou-se apenas tratamento de casos clínicos. O impacto da mastite foi estimado como sendo o total em perdas acrescido das despesas com prevenção e tratamento de casos clínicos. O aumento da frequência média anual de mastite influenciou diretamente no impacto econômico da mastite, evidenciando a necessidade de monitoramento da mastite clínica e subclínica e adoção de medidas preventivas para diminuir os prejuízos ocasionados por essa enfermidade. As despesas com tratamento preventivo representaram, no máximo, 19,7% do impacto econômico, o que demonstra vantagens em investir nessa prática, pois ela irá contribuir significativamente para reduzir o impacto econômico da mastite. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Bovinocultura leiteira, mastite clínica, sanidade animal. ABSTRACT INFLUENCE OF THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MASTITIS IN DAIRY CATTLE. The objectivesof this research were to analyze and quantify the economic impact of the annual average frequency of clinical mastitis in dairy cattle. The research was carried through data simulation in the CU$TO MASTITE computational system, considering dairy cattle with 1, 7 and 15% of clinical mastitis. The expenditures considered as prevention included those of monitoring (culture and antibiogram, bulk tank somatic cell count and individual somatic cell count) pre-and post-dipping, vaccination, treatment of dry cows and maintenance of the milking machine. The measures considered as healing consisted only of the treatment of clinical cases. The impact of the mastitis was estimated as being the total in losses in addition to the expenditures with prevention and treatment of clinical cases. The increase of the annual average frequency of mastitis directly influenced the economic impact of the mastitis. The higher economic impact evidences the need for the monitoring of clinical and subclinical mastitis and the adoption of preventative measures to diminish the damages caused by this disease. The expenditures with preventive treatment represented, at maximum, 19.7% of the economic impact, which demonstrates the advantages of investing in this practice, since it contributes significantly toward reducing the economic impact of mastitis.

Neosporosis is an infectious disease caused by Neospora caninum, an obligate intracellular cyst-forming protozoan considered a major cause of miscarriage in dairy cattle in many parts of the world. This cross-sectional study evaluated the relationship between reproductive abnormalities and seropositivity to N. caninum in 1,204 dairy cows from 40 farms located in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Producers were interviewed, and blood samples were collected to perform indirect immunofluorescence tests (IFAT 1:200). Association between reproductive abnormalities and seropositivity in cattle was evaluated with generalized estimating equations. The true herd-level seroprevalence of N. caninum was 95 % (83.3-99.1), while the individual-level true seroprevalence was 21.6 % (19.2-24.2). Several reproductive abnormalities were significantly associated with seropositivity to N. caninum: occurrence of repeated estrus (p=0.02; OR=3.84; 95 % CI=1.239-11.893), repeated miscarriages (p=0.001; OR=2.54; 95 % CI=1.423-5.402), and temporary anestrus (p=0.001; OR=3.44; 95 % CI=1.976-5.994). Furthermore, loose dogs (p=0.041; OR=2.20; 95 % CI=1.033-4.672) when fed raw meat (p=0.001; OR=1.91; 95 % CI=1.443-2.519) are risk factors for N. caninum infection. We observed that seropositivity to N. caninum in cattle increases risk of miscarriage by almost twice throughout the reproductive life of cows (p=0.004; OR=1.978; 95 % CI=1.249-3.131). Serologic evidence in this study indicates that N. caninum infection is widely distributed among dairy herds and significantly associated with reproductive disorders, especially miscarriage, repeated estrus, and temporary anestrus.

Bovine mastitis is the most frequent disease worldwide in dairy herds, causing high economic losses to producers and industry, as well as having implications for public health due to the zoonotic potential of some agents involved in its etiology and the increased risk of antimicrobial residues in milk and its derivatives. Considering the multifactorial aspect of this disease, knowledge of the agents involved in its etiology and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles is very important. This study was conducted with 306 dairy herds from the Campo das Vertentes region, located in the south of Minas Gerais state, whose owners were milk suppliers to a dairy in the same region. The study involved approximately 34,000 dairy cows and covered an area of approximately 12,564 km2. In these herds, prevalence rates of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae and their relationship with bulk milk somatic cell counts (BMSCC), total bacterial counts (TBC), and daily production were evaluated. In addition, analyses of resistance of these pathogens to the antimicrobials most commonly used in the treatment of mastitis in dairy herds were performed. Microbiological analyses of milk samples from collect from bulk milk tanks were performed aiming to evaluate the prevalence of S. aureus and S. agalactiae. For these proposes, the modified Baird-Parker Agar medium was used for detection of S. aureus and the modified Edwards Agar medium, enriched with 5% defibrinated sheep blood, was used for detection of S. agalactiae. The disc diffusion technique was applied to evaluate antimicrobial resistance. Results show high prevalence rates of S. aureus (70.3%) and S. agalactiae (67.0%) in the dairy farms studied, with 47.71% of the herds showing both pathogens. Associations between BMSCC and the presence of pathogens S. aureus and S. agalactiae and between TBC and the presence of S. agalactiae were observed, demonstrating the influence of these pathogens in milk quality. No variation was observed in the distribution of S. aureus and S. agalactiae in the different strata of daily production. High levels of resistance and multi-resistance were observed among the pathogens S. aureus and S. agalactiae. The results indicate the need for more effective control measures for mastitis caused by S. aureus and S. agalactiae in the dairy herds of the region studied and more judicious use of antimicrobials in order to reduce the problem of resistance to them.

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Amblyomma aureolatum (Pallas) and Amblyomma ovale Koch are common ectoparasites of domestic dogs in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil, where they are vectors of distinct spotted fever group rickettsioses, one caused by Rickettsia rickettsii (transmitted by A. aureolatum), and the other caused by Rickettsia sp. strain Atlantic rainforest (transmitted by A. ovale). For the present study, we performed an altitudinal assessment of all 1992-2012 records of A. aureolatum and A. ovale retrieved from a tick collection. The municipalities with A. ovale records presented significantly (P < 0.05) lower altitude than the ones with A. aureolatum records; the higher the altitude, the lower the chances for the occurrence of A. ovale and the greater the likelihood for the occurrence of A. aureolatum. Regarding A. aureolatum, the chances of finding it in municipalities between 101 and 700 m are nine times higher than in municipalities at ≤ 100 m, or 31.5 times higher in municipalities above 700 m, when compared with municipalities at ≤ 100 m. The reverse was observed for A. ovale, which had its odds ratio diminishing at higher altitudes. These findings have a major role to public health, as A. aureolatum is associated with the transmission of a highly lethal spotted fever (caused by R. rickettsii), whereas A. ovale is associated with the transmission of a milder spotted fever (caused by Rickettsia sp. strain Atlantic rainforest, a R. parkeri-like agent), both in the state of São Paulo.