A STUDY ON SEROPREVELENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF BOVINE LEPTOSPIROSIS IN LOWER ASSAM, INDIA

The present study was conducted to ascertain the seroprevalence of Leptospira infection in cattle among certain districts of the lower Brahmaputra valley in the state of Assam from March 2017 to February 2018. Two serological tests viz. IgG ELISA and Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) were used to detect the leptospiral antibodies. The anti-leptospiral antibodies were detected by IgG ELISA and compared with MAT using antigens from 12 pathogenic serovars. Out of 380 sera samples, 68 (17.89 %, 95% CI: 6.89-27) and 44 (11.58%) were positive by IgG ELISA and MAT respectively. The circulating Leptospira serovars identified were Autumnalis (6.05%), Ballum (2.63%), Batavia (1.31%), Ichterohaemorrhagie (0.7%), Javanica (0.5%) and Sejroe (0.2%). The sensitivity and specificity of IgG ELISA in comparison to MAT were calculated and found to be 100% and 92.85% respectively with a concordance of 93.68%. An epidemiological investigation was carried out to find the association of various risk factors with Leptospira infection under this study in cattle using a pre-tested questionnaire. The present study will serve as baseline data for the prevention and control of Leptospira infection in cattle.