Seroprevalence of Leptospiral Infection in Rodents of Dairy Cattle Herds Complexes in Suburb of Mashhad - Iran

A total of 115 rodents including 66 mole rats (Nesokia indica) and 49 house mice (Mus musculus) were trapped from 18 commercial dairy cattle herds/farms in Mashhad suburb ofKhorrassan Razavee province, Iran. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) with 22 live antigens were used to determine serological responses. The seroprevalence (at a titer ^³100) was 21.73%. Serum samples showed positive reaction against Leptospira interrogans serogroups/serovars Icterohaemorragiae icterohaemorragiae, Grippothyphosa grippothyphosa and Sejroe hardjo and the distribution of MAT titer for serogroups/serovars were 1:200, 1:400, 1:800 and 1:1600, respectively. The infection rate was significantly higher in mole rats than house mice (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences among species and different infection titers.