Introduction Leptospira borgpetersenii is a bacterial pathogen of cattle and it also
causes zoonotic infections in humans. It is important because is a significant
public health problem and because causes organ failure in the liver, lungs,
kidney, and brain. (Naiman, Brion M. et. al., 2002). L. borgpetersenii serovar
Hardjo type hardjo-bovis is the most common cause of leptospirosis in bovine,
in addition, hardjobovis is one of the most common serovars because cattle are
maintenance hosts. Materials and Methods We report a cluster of two cases of
leptospirosis in Italian farms, with regard to clinical, laboratory, environmental
findings and pharmacological therapy: a beef farm of Piedmontese cows with
100 cows and 38 sheep, outbreak on 2013; a dairy farm of Pezzata Rossa d'Oropa
with 70 cows, outbreak on 2014. The two cases were investigated by case
interview and review of clinical and laboratory information. A site visit was made
to the farm to assess environmental risk. Different methods of laboratory
diagnosis were used with each case: microagglutination test MAT to reveal
antibody in serum, microbiological techniques and PCR Real Time LipL32 to
detect leptospiral DNA in tissue samples including urine and milk. The isolates
were serotyped by MAT using a panel of reference hyperimmune sera. Moreover,
serovar identification was performed by Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST).
Auto-vaccines whole cell bacterins were manufactured from Leptospira isolates of
the two outbreaks. Results and Conclusions The two outbreaks were confirmed as
leptospirosis by MAT (increasing Ab titers against serogroup Sejroe) and in both
cases the isolated causative agent was identified as L. borgpetersenii serovar
Hardjo type hardjo-bovis by MLST (ST 152). By PCR all the urine samples (9)
and 8 out 12 urine samples examined were positive respectively in the first and in
the second case. Laboratory tests showed the presence of Leptospira spp.
antibodies in individuai cow serum and Leptospira spp. organisms in urine. L.
borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo type hardjo-bovis is one of the most important and
costly contributors to reproductíve loss in the beef and dairy industries. In Italy
there are not vaccines for Leptospira in cattle, so auto-vaccines were prepared in
five months with hardjo-bovis strains from urine samples from the two outbreaks.
The antibiotic treatment and the vaccination allowed to dose the outbreaks after
severa! months. On the basis of there data, vaccination of farm livestock for
leptospirosis is an integrai factor in preventing new infection and human cases.
Particularly, in bovine livestock, auto-vaccines are extremely useful in case of
animal movements to pasture