Role of cattle in the maintenance of Leptospira interrogans serotype hardjo infection in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Kidneys of cattle, mice and badgers were cultured for leptospires in an attempt to evaluate the relative importance of these species in the epidemiology of bovine leptospirosis caused by the Hebdomadis serogroup. Leptospires closely related to serotype hardjo were recovered from 57 (28.5 per cent) of 200 cattle examined but no evidence of infection was found in either badgers or mice, indicating that cattle act as the maintenance host for serotype hardjo. Many cattle were seronegative carriers.

Serological prevalence to six leptospiral serovars in cattle in Asturias (Northern Spain)

“…Moreover, positive reactions due to vaccination were not expected since leptospiral vaccines have not been used in Asturian cattle. Despite this, the seroprevalence of the six serovars studied (10n36 % at 1 : 10, 5n6 % for 1 : 80) was much lower than that found in other countries [7][8][9][10][11]. This difference was largely due to the low seroprevalence of serovar hardjo in Asturias (0n75 %).…”

Serological studies of British leptospiral isolates of the Sejroe serogroup: III. The distribution of leptospires of the Sejroe serogroup in the British Isles

“…From this study it would appear that small rodents do not constitute a reservoir of hardjo. However, unlike Northern Ireland where various studies failed to detect leptospiral infection in small rodents (McCaughey & Fairley, 1971; Ellis, O'Brien & Cassells, 1981) in this study Sejroe serogroup strains were isolated from a number of species. All isolates were identified by factor analysis as saxkoebing, and some of these isolates had been identified as saxkoebing by cross agglutinin absorption tests (CAAT) in an earlier study (Little, Stevens & Hathaway, 1986).…”

“…III 123 in continental Europe is the house mouse (Sebek & Rosicky, 1975), but a study of 272 house mice trapped in farm buildings at four widely separated locations in south-east England failed to demonstrate serological or bacteriological evidence of sejroe infection (Hathaway, Little & Stevens, 1982b). Similarly no evidence of sejroe infection in house mice was found in smaller studies in Northern Ireland (McCaughey & Fairley, 1971;Ellis, O'Brien & Cassells, 1981) or Scotland (Broom & Coghlan, 1958). The single report by Michna & Campbell (1969) of the isolation of sejroe from the kidney of cows which had aborted requires some comment.…”

“…No isolations have been made from wood mice captured in Northern Ireland and Scotland (McCoughey & Fairley, 1971;Ellis, O'Brien & Cassells, 1981), however isolates which may well have been saxkoebing were isolated from both bank voles and field voles in Scotland (Broom & Coghlan, 1958); Michna & Campbell, 1970).…”

“…Serological evidence of infection with the Sejroe serogroup was first reported in Scottish cattle and this was associated with abortion and atypical mastitis and with illness in dairymen (Coghlan & Norval, 1967;Michna, 1967;Michna & Campbell, 1969;Sakula & Moore, 1969). Subsequently serological surveys have shown prevalence of 30-40% in cattle in KScotland, South-West England and Northern Ireland (Ellis & Michna, 1976;Little et al 1980;Ellis, O'Brien & Cassells, 1981) and hardjo has been isolated from milk samples and aborted foetuses (Ellis et al 1976a, b) as well as bovine kidney (Orr & Little, 1979;Ellis, O'Brien & Cassells, 1981). Much lower prevalence of serological titres have been reported in other domestic animals, 64 % in sheep (Hathaway, Little & Stevens, 1982a), 4% in pigs and 4 % in horses .…”