Soroprevalência de infecção leptospiral em capivaras de vida livre no município de Uberlândia-MG

Abstract

Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by a group of Gram-negative bacteria, belonging to the genus Leptospira. It is a re-emerging zoonosis with higher incidence in tropical countries and at times with higher rainfall, it affects domestic and wild animals as well as humans. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are wild rodents that, with the disorderly increase of cities and development of agriculture, started to inhabit urban centers, are considered a risk to human and other animal health, as they are carriers of several pathogens. The aim of this study was to trace the anti-Leptospira spp. of 21 capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) that reside in the urban area of the municipality of Uberlândia-MG, through microscopic agglutination tests, in addition to correlating the research results with risk factors for possible infections of other animal and human species. The dark field microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used, with an initial dilution of 1:25 and a 1:100 titration was used as a cut-off point. As a result, we obtained a capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) (4.76%) reactive to the dark field microscopic agglutination test (MAT) at a titration of 1:100. The animal was reactive to serogroups Icterohaemorrhagiae and Cynoptery, serovars Copenhageni and Djasiman, respectively. Through the tests performed, it was proved that capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) with anti-Leptospira spp. of different serovars, which may suggest old infections by the bacterium Leptospira spp. Develop preventive measures to prevent the contact of capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) with humans and domestic animals is the basis for preventing the transmission of bacteria between species.