No abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease with common agent is Brucella abortus in bovine specie. The disease in bulls is usually asymptomatic and could have absence of anti-B. abortus antibody in serum. It was investigated of the occurrence of bovine brucellosis in bulls, which involved testing blood serum and seminal plasma from 177 bulls used for natural mating or as semen donors. Blood was collected from all the animals by venipuncture of the jugular vein to obtain the serum samples, while seminal plasma was obtained from the animals by electroejaculation. Samples were tested in a screening test (rose bengal test). In the second stage, the samples testing positive in the RBT were subjected to the confirmatory test (2-mercaptoethanol). None of the animals tested positive when blood serum was used. However, 5.06% of the bulls were considered reagent positive when seminal plasma was tested. It also sought to determine whether there was an association between the kind of production and the destination of animals with positive results. The calculated odds ratio indicated that bulls of the kind of production dairy/both (beef and dairy) had a higher risk of brucellosis infection. It is recommended that seminal plasma agglutination and seroagglutination techniques are applied concomitantly. Key words: Blood serum, males, natural mating, semen donor ResumoBrucelose é uma zoonose que nos bovinos tem como principal agente a bactéria Brucella abortus. A doença nos touros é geralmente assintomática e pode haver ausência de anticorpos anti-B. abortus no soro sanguíneo. O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal avaliar a ocorrência da brucelose bovina em reprodutores para isso foram empregados testes oficiais tendo como material o soro sanguíneo e o plasma seminal. Foram utilizados 177 machos bovinos destinados à monta natural ou doação de sêmen. O soro sanguíneo foi obtido através de venopunção da jugular e o plasma seminal através da eletroejaculação. As amostras foram submetidas ao teste de triagem (Antígeno acidificado tamponado) e na segunda etapa, apenas as amostras positivas na triagem foram submetidas ao exame confirmatório (2-mercaptoetanol). Não houveram animais positivos quando utilizado o soro sanguíneo. Para plasma seminal houve 5,06% de touros reagentes. Avaliou-se também se sistema produtivo ou a destinação do animal possuíam associação com resultados positivos. O cálculo de odds ratio demonstrou que os reprodutores bovinos do sistema produtivo misto/leite tem maior risco de infecção para brucelose. Recomenda-se que a técnica de sêmen plasma aglutinação seja feita em conjunto com a soroaglutinação. Palavras-chave: Soro sanguíneo, machos, monta natural, doador de sêmen

<p>Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease with common agent is <em>Brucella abortus </em>in bovine specie. The disease in bulls is usually asymptomatic and could have absence of anti-<em>B. abortus </em>antibody in serum. It was investigated of the occurrence of bovine brucellosis in bulls, which involved testing blood serum and seminal plasma from 177 bulls used for natural mating or as semen donors. Blood was collected from all the animals by venipuncture of the jugular vein to obtain the serum samples, while seminal plasma was obtained from the animals by electroejaculation. Samples were tested in a screening test (rose Bengal test). In the second stage, the samples testing positive in the RBT were subjected to the confirmatory test (2-mercaptoethanol). None of the animals tested positive when blood serum was used. However, 5.06% of the bulls were considered reagent positive when seminal plasma was tested. It also sought to determine whether there was an association between the kind of production and the destination of animals with positive results. The calculated odds ratio indicated that bulls of the kind of production dairy/both (beef and dairy) had a higher risk of brucellosis infection. It is recommended that seminal plasma agglutination and seroagglutination techniques are applied concomitantly.</p>