Freqüência de anticorpos anti-Borrelia burgdorferi em eqüinos na mesorregião metropolitana de Belém, Estado do Pará

Abstract

Lyme borreliosis is a multisistemic disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi latu sensu and transmited by ixodide ticks, affecting both humans beings and domesticated animals and having wild animals as Its natural reservoirs, besides of being a zoonosis of wide geographic distribution. We picked 300 blood samples of apparently health horses from the cities of Ananideua, Belém, Benevides, Castanhal, Marituba and Santa Izabel of the Pará, all included in the metropolitan mesoregion of Belém – Pará. The samples were picked up by the jugular vein and the serum analised through indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. The aim of this work was to verify the serum epidemiology of Borrelia burgdorferi in the metropolitan mesorregion of Belém. The frequency of serum positivity was 26,67% (n=80), being 72 (24%) with title of 1:800, six (2%) with 1:1600 and two (0,6%) with 1:3200. The serum frequency by gender was approximately 13,67% of females and 13% of males. The thoroughbred and the half-breed animals had 9% and 18% of frequency, respectively. There was no significative difference in the serum positivity with regard to cities, gender, race and age. The frequency found corroborates the hypothesis of occurrence of Borrelia sp. in the studied region.