The serostatus of Brucella spp., Chlamydia abortus, Coxiella burnetii and Neospora caninum in cattle in three cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

BackgroundDairy production in Bosnia and Herzegovina exhibits limited productivity, which may partly, be explained by extensive reproductive problems of non-infectious and infectious origin. Brucella spp., Chlamydia abortus, Coxiella burnetii and Neospora caninum are common infectious causes of decreased reproductive outcomes in cattle worldwide. Little is, however, known about the disease status of herds with reduced reproductive performances. A cross-sectional study was designed to document the status of these pathogens in dairy cattle in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 1970 serum samples were collected from cattle in farms located in three cantons (regions). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays were used to screen for seropositivity against four selected pathogens.ResultsThe overall seroprevalence was estimated at both the herd level and at individual level for each pathogen. At the individual animal level, the prevalence for C. abortus, C. burnetii, N. caninum and Brucella spp. was 52.1% (95% CI: 41.2–62.7), 8.8% (95% CI: 5.3–14.2), 9.2% (95% CI: 6.0–12.3 and 0.2% (95% CI: 0.1–0.5), respectively. The corresponding estimates for herd level were 87.9% (95% CI: 82.6–91.8), 19.6% (95% CI: 14.6–25.8), 35.2% (95% CI: 28.8–42.1), and 1.5% (95% CI: 0.5–4.6). A substantial overlap was observed in the presence of N. caninum, C. abortus and C. burnetii at individual and herd level.ConclusionOur study demonstrated a high level of antibodies to Chlamydia abortus. Considering the association of this agent with reproductive disorders in cattle, future studies should be directed to the epidemiological traits of this infection. Additionally, the relatively high levels of exposure to C. burnetii and N. caninum found in this study highlights the need for targeted control of infectious causes of reproductive disorders in dairy cattle of the studied areas. Given the low seroprevalence, Brucella spp. does not seem to represent a problem in the reproductive health of cattle in the studied areas.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-018-1361-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Coxiella burnetii associated with BVDV (Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus), BoHV (Bovine Herpesvirus), Leptospira spp., Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii and Trypanosoma vivax in reproductive disorders in cattle

“…Although serological evidence of exposure to C. burnetii has already been reported in cattle in Europe (CZAPLICKI et al, 2009;AGGER et al, 2010;BOTTCHER et al, 2011;GACHE et al, 2017;RYAN et al, 2018;VARELA-CASTRO et al, 2018;VIDAL et al, 2017;SOFTIC et al, 2018), Asia (CETINKAYA et al, 2000NOKHODIAN et al, 2016), North America (MCQUISTON et al, 2005 and Africa (KAMGA-WALADJO et al, 2010;SCOLAMACCHIA et al, 2010), there are few data on seroprevalence to this agent in ruminants in Brazil. In this regard, while Guimarães et al (2017) found a seropositivity rate of 2% for C. burnetii among sheep sampled in the state of Piauí, northeast of Brazil, Oliveira et al (2018) found a seroprevalence of 55.1% in a herd of goats with history of reproductive disorders in the state of Alagoas, Northeast of Brazil.…”

Reproductive Performance in a Selected Sample of Dairy Farms in Una-Sana Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Elkjaer et al reported that even mild uterine infection could have an adverse effect on CFI [37]. Similarly, the uterine infection was also one of the observations associated with poor reproductive performance as presented in an earlier paper by our group [13]. e calving interval (CI) was calculated as the traditionally used fertility indicator, and the median CI of 385 days indicates a relatively good reproductive performance in selected dairy farms in Una-Sana Canton.…”

“…Since there was no complete list of all dairy farms in Una-Sana Canton, the sampling frame consisted of dairy farms from the available municipal lists of cooperatives with dairies. In addition, the selection of farms was based on a subset of dairy farms assembled retrospectively from a previous study on farm management and reproductive infections in dairy cattle, as described in [13]. e general inclusion criterion was the existence of an on-farm written recording system for reproductive data at the individual animal level.…”

“…Since the reproductive performance of dairy cattle may be influenced by a number of individual and environmental factors, substantial variations are seen across the country. erefore, this study aimed at identifying and describing the individual animal reproductive performance in a subset [13] of investigated dairy herds in Una-Sana Canton of BH.…”

A causal approach to understanding management factors, reproductive underperformance and reproductive infections in dairy cattle

“…Databases and statistical analyses 174 The questionnaire data were entered into a Microsoft Excel ® spreadsheet before inspected and 175 merged with data from the previously reported serological survey (Softic et al, 2018) were screened for their influence on abortion, stillbirths, retained placenta and metritis, as well 183 as, infectious agents. As all reproduction and infection outcomes were coded as present/ absent 184 (seropositive/ seronegative herd), a mixed-effects univariable logistic regression was used to 185 screen management factors for potential statistical influence.…”