Leptospiral antibodies in domestic animals in Tyrol.

This research article details a study on the occurrence of leptospirosis, an infectious disease, in domestic animals in Tyrol, Austria. The study found that the incidence of this disease decreases as the altitude of the different regions increases.

Study Overview

• The study involved a serological examination of 1,547 domestic animals, including species such as cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, goats, dogs and cats, from 9 districts in Tyrol, Austria.
• The objective of the study was to ascertain the incidence of leptospirosis among these animals. Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects both humans and animals.

Testing method and Results

• The researchers used the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAL test) to detect and measure the presence of leptospiral antibodies in the animals.
• From the animals tested, 7.2% showed positive reactions with titres of 1:800 and higher. For dogs and cats, this percentile was set at 1:100.
• The study found significant antibody titres against leptospiral serotypes like icterohaemorrhagiae or copenhageni, sorex-jalna, bratislava, sejroe and saxkoebing.
• Antibodies were also detected against L. bataviae, L. pomona, L. tarassovi and L. bulgarica, however, these antibody titres were insignificant.
• By species, 8.8% of cattle, 6.8% of pig, 1.1% of sheep, 3.3% of dog and 18.2% of cat serums gave a positive reaction. Out of 9 horses examined, serum from one horse gave a positive reaction while the 2 goat serums tested negative.

Variation with Altitude

• The study additionally found a correlation between the incidence of leptospirosis and the altitude of different regions in Tyrol.
• It appeared that the percentage of positive testing animals in different districts ranged from 1.0 to 17.0, and variations were also observed in the distribution of differing serotypes in the individual districts.
• The conclusive findings indicated that the prevalence of leptospirosis decreased as the altitude for the localities increased.