Pesquisa de anticorpos homólogos anti-Borrelia burgdorferi em búfalos (Bubalus bubalis) do estado do Pará

Abstract

Rearing buffaloes in Brazil has been increasing notoriously and leaving of being a simple activity to justify the use of poor fertility lands. Right now the rearing buffalo is considered a promissory lucrative activity, but the information about sanitary aspects to improve buffaloes health are not consistent. Borreliosis is a systemic infectious disease caused by many Borrelia species, which have a cosmopolitan distribution, and affects various species of domestic and wild animals, including human beings. Borrelia theileri is the specie more commonly reported in ruminants. However, these animals can also be infected by B. burgdorferi sensu lato and B. coriaceae, which cause Lyme borreliosis and abortion epizootic bovine, respectively. Meanwhile, there are no seroepidemiologic studies of borreliosis in buffaloes. The aim of this study was to know the frequency of anti- B. burgdorferi homologous antibodies in buffaloes serum samples proceeding from Castanhal, Santa Isabel, Nova Timboteua and Santarém Novo, in the continental part of Pará state and Cachoeira do Arari in Marajó Island were collected. Serums of 491 buffaloes were analyzed by indirect ELISA test. The serologic analysis of the samples showed that 412 serums (83.91%) were positive, without different statistical significance between positive animals from Marajó Island 81.469% (2362/284) and from the continental part 86.96% (180/207). Was observed that buffaloes of these five municipalities studied have high antibodies frequency against spirochetes B. burgdorferi. The Correspondence Analysis test showed the formation of three different municipalities groups of according with seropositives animals number. The first group was formed by Cachoeira do Arari and Castanhal, the second by Nova Timboteua and Santarém Novo. The third group was constituted by Santa Isabel only, which presented statisticment loss antibodies frequency than others municipalities. The high frequency of positives animals found can be explained by presence of tick Boophilus microplus and by the existence of report on Borrelia sp. infecting buffalo in the studied region. These facts suggest cross-reactivity between strain g39/40 of B. burgdorferi used as antigenic substratum and Borrelia species that infect buffaloes in Pará state. Despite of low specificity of indirect ELISA test used in this study, it is a good method to select e screen infected animals in studies about Borrelia sp. in buffaloes.