Epidemiological investigation of paratuberculosis in buffaloes and cattle in the state of Pará, Brazil

Abstract

Paratuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). The objective of this research was to detect the presence of antibodies against MAP, through an indirect ELISA, in blood serum from cattle and buffaloes belonging to the state of Pará, Brazil. A total of 1772 samples were tested, 1190 from cattle from 78 herds, from 41 municipalities and 582 from buffaloes, from 36 herds, in 13 municipalities. To compare the results obtained between the species evaluated, the contingency Chi-square test was applied, to test the hypothesis of the existence of an association between positive and negative in relation to the species, for this purpose, the level of significance adopted was equal to 0.05. The total seropositivity found was 31.04% (550/1772). Of the buffalo samples, 89 were positive (15.29%) and 493 negative (84.71%), in relation to the 13 municipalities evaluated, 11 had reactive animals. In relation to cattle, 461 were reactive (38.73%) and of the 41 municipalities analyzed, 40 had seropositive animals. The distribution of positive and negative cases between species indicates that of the total of 1190 cattle evaluated, 38.74% of the samples were positive, while of the total of 582 buffaloes, this percentage corresponded to 15.29%. There was a significant association between test results and species, with a higher percentage of positive cases in cattle (p<0.01). MAP infection is widely spread among cattle and buffaloes in the state of Pará. Furthermore, differences in prevalence between them suggest lower susceptibility of buffaloes compared to cattle.