| Summary: | Leptospirosis is a disease which mani fest itself in a number
ways in almost all domestic animals and causes considerable
to livestock producers. In cattle, visible losses are incurred
mainly through abortion, stillbirth and perinatal mortality.
wuile acute disease and a mastitis-like syndrome are less cojnmon.
Furthermore, field evidence sugs:ests that leptospirosis can he
made responsible for increased ca1ving-toconception intervals,
thus lari log to invisible losses which possibly exceed those
directly discernible by the producer.
'Fh.re is a large volume of literature on leptospirosis, but. few
attempts have been made systematically to assess the imoortance
and interactions of the different determinants of the disease.
Environmental conditions and management practices strongly
influence the dynamics of the infection and it appears that each
farming ecosystem may create its own epidemiology. Many
cualitative and especially quantitative aspects of the
epidemiology of leptospirosis are still poorly understood.
Simiirly, the economic impact of leptospirosis has not been
assessed comprehensively yet in ariy single production system.
Serological investigations have shown leptcspiral. infections to
be widely spread in cattle populations mantained in. tropical
environments. The biological and economic significance of these
infections, however, has yet to be ascertained and estimates of
economic imoacts made so far should he regarded with some
caution.
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