Serological survey of leptospiral antibodies in cattle in Zimbabwe

A total of 2,382 sera from 92 herds widely distributed throughout Zimbabwe were screened using the Microscopic Agglutination Test against representatives of 18 serogroups of Leptospira interrogans and one representative of Leptospira biflexa. The prevalence of leptospiral titres at a serum dilution of 1:100 was 27%, the most common titres being to antigens from the Sejroe and Tarassovi serogroups. Significantly different proportions of titres were shown among the three farming systems and among the eight provinces of Zimbabwe.