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Infectious bovine abortions: observations from an organized dairy herd

  • Veterinary Microbiology - Research Paper
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Abstract

Abortions in dairy animals can be caused by several infectious agents. Identification of the actual causal agent(s) is important for formulating suitable control strategies. A 3-year (2016–2018) longitudinal study was conducted in a dairy farm following an abortion storm in the mid- to late gestations. The investigation focused on the seven major infectious abortifacient in cattle, viz. bovine alphaherpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), Neospora caninum, Brucella abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira Hardjo, and Listeria monocytogenes. High seroprevalence was observed for BVDV (79.4%), Leptospira (70.5%), BoHV-1 (53.5%), and Brucella (45.0%) at the beginning of the investigation (August 2016). The incidence proportion increased for BVDV, Leptospira, and Brucella in the following years of the investigation. A strong association of Brucella seropositivity with history of abortion (OR = 3.27) was recorded. Incidence of BoHV-1 reduced during the period of study coincident with systematic IBR inactivated marker vaccination of the herd. Sixty-four abortion cases were investigated for the identification of causative agent(s) by microbial culture, serological (ELISA), and molecular detection (PCR/ real-time PCR). Antibodies to BVDV, Brucella, BoHV-1, Leptospira, Neospora, and Coxiella were detected in 63, 61, 56, 35, 5, and 6 aborting cattle, respectively. Real-time PCR/PCR of clinical specimens detected DNA of Brucella, BoHV-1, Coxiella, Leptospira, and Listeria in 34, 13, 12, 9, and 4 abortion cases, respectively. BVDV and Neospora were not detected in any specimen samples. Brucella abortus isolated from the farm was determined as ST1 by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). DNA of multiple agents were detected in 21 of the 64 cases (43.75%). Overall, the data suggests, Brucella was the major causative agent, although multiple causative agents circulated in the farm.

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Data availability

All data are fully available (without disclosing the farm information). All relevant data are within the manuscript and its supporting information files.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the management of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Anand, for providing necessary facilities and funding to carry out this work. The authors acknowledge the support provided by the owner and staff of the organized dairy farm where the study was conducted.

Funding

National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Anand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Dairy Development Board Research and Development Laboratory, IIL Campus, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500032, India

    Laxmi Narayan Sarangi, Tharani Nazia, Polapally Supriya, Thodangala Naveena, Vijay Shriram Bahekar, Amitesh Prasad, Rachamreddy Venkata Chandrasekhar Reddy, Kota Sri Naga Leela Surendra, Gonuguntla Hariprasad Naidu & Nadikerianda Muthappa Ponnanna

  2. National Dairy Development Board, Anand, Gujarat, 388001, India

    Samir Kumar Rana & Girish Kumar Sharma

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  1. Laxmi Narayan Sarangi
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  2. Tharani Nazia
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  3. Polapally Supriya
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Contributions

Laxmi Narayan Sarangi: conceptualization, methodology, sample collection, investigation, project administration, data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft. Nazia Tharani: investigation. Supriya Polapally: investigation. Samir Kumar Rana: conceptualization, organizing resources, project administration, supervision, writing—review and editing. Naveena Thodangala: investigation. Vijay Shriram Bahekar: sample collection, investigation. Amitesh Prasad: sample collection, investigation. Rachamreddy Venkata Chandrasekhar Reddy: investigation. Kota Sri Naga Leela Surendra: investigation, formal analysis. Hariprasad Naidu Gonuguntla: investigation. Ponnanna Nadikerianda Muthappa: resources, project administration, writing—review and editing. Girish Kumar Sharma: conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, writing—review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samir Kumar Rana.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical considerations

Samples were collected for determination of causative agents of abortion in the farm as per request of the farm authorities. The serum samples were collected as part of usual screening scheme of the farm. The samples were collected by the farm personnel under the supervision of the veterinarians following national ethical guidelines. The present study does not come under the category of experimental research on animals; therefore, formal ethical approval is not required. The herd owner had requested to undertake this study in his farm and has given prior consent.

Consent for publication

The farm owner has given consent for research publication with the clause for maintaining the confidentiality of the farm. The permission from competent authority of NDDB has been taken for this publication.

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Responsible Editor: Miliane Moreira Soares de Souza

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Sarangi, L.N., Tharani, N., Polapally, S. et al. Infectious bovine abortions: observations from an organized dairy herd. Braz J Microbiol 52, 439–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-020-00414-x

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