Serosurvey of antibodies against spotted fever group Rickettsia spp. in horse farms in Northern Paraná, Brazil

Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) is an emerging disease most likely caused by Rickettsia rickettsii. The objective of the present study was to estimate the seroprevalence of BSF rickettsia infections in equines from six horse farms located in Londrina County, Paraná, Southern Brazil. Six owners of horse farms situated in Cambé, Santa Fé, Guaraci and Londrina municipalities participated in the study. All farms were located in areas where BSF has not been reported. A total of 273 horses were sampled and their sera were tested by indirect Immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using R. rickettsii and R. parkeri antigens. Titers equal to and greater than 64 were considered positive. Of 273 sera tested, 15 (5.5%) reacted to R. rickettsii and 5 (1.8%) to R. parkeri. Five out of the six farms studied revealed seropositive animals and seropositivity rate ranged from 0 to 13%. The titers ranged from 64 to 512, and four samples had a titer of 512. Nine animals reacted to R. rickettsii with titers four-fold higher than those for R. parkeri. These results suggest that horses in Northern Paraná may have been exposed to rickettsiae identical or closely related to R. rickettsii.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Tamekuni,Katia, Toledo,Roberta dos Santos, Silva Filho,Mauro de Freitas, Haydu,Valeska Bender, Pacheco,Richard Campos, Cavicchioli,José Henrique, Labruna,Marcelo Bahia, Dumler,John Stephen, Vidotto,Odilon
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Colégio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinária 2010
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1984-29612010000400014
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!