The prevalence of Leptospirosis in goat herds of the State of Minas Gerais has seldom been studied. The present research had as its objectives: (1) investigate the seroprevalence of Leptospirosis in the county of Uberlândia, MG, (2) verify the Leptospirosis serovars, and (3) identify the risk factors associated with infection on the farms examined. Serum samples from 230 animals in 11 properties were tested using the microscopic agglutination test. An epidemiological examination furnished data for analysis regarding the risk factors. The prevalence of Leptospirosis was found to be 31.3% with variation from 1:100 to 1:800. The most frequent serovars were: Autumnalis (30.30%), Tarassovi (19.20%), Pyrogenes (13.13%), and Icterohaemorrhagiae (11.11%). The ages and races of the animals were among the risk factors found to be significantly correlated (P<0.05) with infection. At the farm level, the intensity of production, use of salaried workers, and association of other animals were all found to be related with the frequency of Leptospirosis. The results demonstrated that inadequate management was a factor which favored the occurrence of infection in the region of the study.

The aim of the current study was to verify if cattle vaccinated against leptospirosis may react in diagnostic tests for brucellosis. Sixty cows were divided into 5 groups, each comprising 12 animals. Four groups were given different vaccines against leptospirosis, while the control group received only saline. Two doses of vaccine were given, as recommended by the manufacturers. Serum samples were collected on the first day of immunization (day 0) and on postvaccination days 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 96, and 126. All the serum samples were tested for brucellosis and leptospirosis. Twenty animals were reactive at least once to the Rose Bengal test, but by day 96, no further reactions were elicited by this test. Twenty-six samples were reactive to the Rose Bengal test, but only 7 remained positive in confirmatory tests: 1 to the 2-mercaptoethanol test, 2 to the fluorescence polarization assay, and 6 to indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. None of the samples was reactive in the complement fixation test. None of the animals in the control group was reactive. A significant difference was found between the control group and the groups vaccinated against leptospirosis, according to Fisher exact test. However, the groups were found to respond independently of the vaccine brand. The results indicate that cattle vaccinated against leptospirosis may show reactivity on screening tests for brucellosis.

The objectives of the present study were to verify the seroprevalence of anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies, identify the most frequent serovars and the risk factors associated with the infection in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A total of 334 ovines blood samples were collected in 12 farms from Uberlândia municipality to be evaluated by means the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) against 22 serovars of Leptospira spp.and an epidemiologic questionnaire was applied for each farm in order to correlate with risk factors of leptospirosis: sex, age and breed as well as contact with cattle, contact with dogs and presence of rodents.The prevalence of seropositive to MAT was found in seventy four ovines (22.2%; CI 95% 17.6-26.4%), with titers ranging from 100 to 3200. The most frequent serovars identified were: Hardjo, Autumnalis, Hardjo and Wolffi association and Grippotyphosa. Statistically significant differences were found in males, pure breeds and presence of rodents (p<0.05). The prevalence of anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies found in the present study demonstrated that this bacterium occurs in ovines of Uberlândia municipality, MG, Brazil. The need for the adoption of efficient management for the control of rodents and infection in ovines in order to avoid leptospirosis in the local flocks and future transmission to humans.

Semen samples from 88 reproductively mature bulls were screened to detect the presence of Brucella spp. by polymerase chain reaction. Twenty-seven samples were found to be positive, underscoring the importance of researching brucellosis in males and the need for greater care in the selection of sperm-donating bulls for semen centres.

Comunicação[Communication]Pesquisa de anticorpos anti-Brucella abortus e anti-Brucella ovis em ovinos no município de Uberlândia, MG (Castro et al., 2005), as quais não são específicas de um hospedeiro, mas possuem predileção por determinadas espécies animais, como a Brucella abortus (B. abortus), que infecta preferencialmente bovinos, e a Brucella ovis (B. ovis), que infecta ovinos (Paulin, 2003).As manifestações clínicas mais comuns da brucelose causada pela Brucella abortus nos animais são o aborto e a retenção de placenta nas fêmeas, e essa doença é frequentemente assintomática nos machos. Quando há manifestação clínica no macho, o sintoma mais comum é orquite. A principal fonte de infecção é representada pela vaca, que durante o aborto ou parto elimina grandes quantidades da bactéria, contaminando o meio ambiente (Brasil, 2006 (Azevedo et al., 2004;Clementino et al., 2007).Segundo Silva et al. (2003), a porcentagem de ovinos adultos (acima de um ano de idade) infectados pela B. ovis é superior à dos jovens (abaixo de um ano de idade) e, em contrapartida, machos e fêmeas possuem a mesma suscetibilidade à infecção. Neste estudo, a idade dos ovinos pesquisados variou de seis a 11 meses (18,6%), um a três anos (30,2%) e maiores que três anos (51,2%) e, com relação ao sexo, 94,6% eram fêmeas e 5,4% machos. Verificou-se, no presente estudo, a colheita de amostras de sangue de categorias variadas e não houve ovinos reagentes para B. ovis.A ovinocultura é uma atividade em expansão na região e, de acordo com o questionário epidemiológico realizado nas 12 propriedades, 58,3% (7/12) dos criadores de ovinos relataram que compram ovinos em outros municípios da região e 41,7% (5/12) compram em outros estados do país. As exposições ou leilões agropecuários são locais que aglomeram animais de diferentes origens e favorecem a disseminação de infecções; 25% (3/12) dos criadores comentaram que levam os ovinos para estes eventos. Verificou-se também que 100% destes criadores não exigem exames sorológicos para averiguar a sanidade dos animais ao introduzi-los no rebanho. Com relação à quarentena, 58,3% (7/12) relataram que a realizam ao adquirir novos ovinos. Gouveia et al. (2009)