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Seroepidemiology of Leptospira infection in slaughtered cattle in Gauteng province, South Africa

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Abstract

Leptospirosis is an important economical disease of livestock globally, especially in Asia, the Caribbean, and the African continent. Its presence has been reported in a wide range of livestock. However, information on leptospirosis in South Africa is scanty. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 11 randomly selected abattoirs to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors for leptospirosis in slaughtered cattle in Gauteng province, South Africa. During abattoir visits to selected abattoirs, blood samples were collected from 199 cattle and demographic data obtained on the slaughtered animals. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed on all sera using a 26-serotype panel using cutoff titer ≥ 1:100. Animal- and abattoir-level risk factors were investigated for their association with seropositivity for leptospirosis. The seroprevalence of leptospirosis in the cattle sampled was 27.6% (55/199). The predominant serogroups detected in seropositive cattle were Sejroe (sv. Hardjo) (38.2%) and Mini sv. Szwajizak) (14.5%) but low to Canicola (sv. Canicola) (1.8%) and Pomona (sv. Pomona) (1.8%). The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Of the five variables investigated, only one (abattoirs) had statistically significantly (P < 0.001) differences in the seroprevalence of leptospirosis among abattoirs. The study documented for the first time in South Africa, the occurrence of serogroups Sejroe (Hardjo bovis strain lely 607), Tarassovi, Hebdomadis, and Medanensis in slaughtered cattle. It was concluded that six of the nine serovars (representing seven serogroups) of Leptospira spp. circulating in cattle population in South Africa are not vaccine serogroups. The clinical, diagnostic, and public health importance of the findings cannot be ignored.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Institute of Health, USA, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), South Africa, for the provision of funds to enable us to conduct this research study. We thank the University of Pretoria, Yale University School of Public Health, National Veterinary Research Institute, and Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (OVR) for their support. The cooperation of the abattoir owners for the access to their facilities is well appreciated by the authors.

Funding

This study was funded by the NIH grant R01 AI121207 and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), South Africa, for the provision of funds to enable us to conduct this research study. Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), South Africa (Grant Reference Number: 2015/16).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    B. B. Dogonyaro, H. van Heerden, B. F. Kolo & F. O. Fasina

  2. Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    B. B. Dogonyaro, A. I. Ko & E. A. Wunder Jr

  3. National Veterinary Reserch Institute, Department of Virology, Bacteriology and Parasitogy, Vom, Plateau State, Nigeria

    B. B. Dogonyaro

  4. Bacterial Serology Laboratory: ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Pretoria, South Africa

    A. D. Potts & C. Lotter

  5. Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Johannesburg, South Africa

    C. Katsande

  6. ECTAD, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    F. O. Fasina

  7. Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health, Salvador, Brazil

    A. I. Ko & E. A. Wunder Jr

  8. Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    A. A. Adesiyun

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  1. B. B. Dogonyaro
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  10. A. A. Adesiyun
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Correspondence to B. B. Dogonyaro.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Animal ethical clearances were approved and received from the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) through the Section 20 approval (number: FY2015/2016), the University of Pretoria Animal Ethics Committee (AEC: v084-16) of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, and from the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (ARC-OVR) (ARC-OVR: AEC 12-16) for this research.

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Managers or owners of the abattoirs from where pigs were sampled for the study consented.

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Dogonyaro, B.B., van Heerden, H., Potts, A.D. et al. Seroepidemiology of Leptospira infection in slaughtered cattle in Gauteng province, South Africa. Trop Anim Health Prod 52, 3789–3798 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-020-02417-0

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