Antibodies to Leptospira interrogans in goats and risk factors of the disease in Santa Catarina (West side), Brazil

• Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by various animals and human.
• In goats, the productive impact of leptospirosis is not well known and totally unknown in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
• There is high prevalence of different serovars in the investigated area than in other states.
• Goats with high occurrence of Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar, a zoonotic leptospira.
• Goats receiving concentrate, and have contact with ovine have a greater chance of contracting the disease (risk factors).

Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Leptospira spp. In goats, the productive impact of leptospirosis is not well known and totally unknown in Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil. This study aimed to investigate leptospirosis seroprevalence and its risk factors in goats in the west side of SC. A total of 654 blood samples were analyzed using the microscopic agglutination technique and 35.47% (232) of the animals were seropositives. Except for serogroup Autumnalis, positive samples for all other serogroups were found as follows: Sejroe (Hardjo, Wolffi), Grippotyphosa (Grippotyphosa), Canicola (Canicola), Icterohaemorrhagiae (Icterohaemorrhagiae, Copenhageni), Australis (Australis, Bratislava) and Pomona (Pomona). The contact among sheep and goats, and the addition of concentrate as food supplement were found to be risk factors for leptospirosis. Based on these results, we conclude that there is a high occurrence of anti-Leptospira antibodies in goats in the Western part of Santa Catarina State.