La. Mathias et al., Serosurvey for antibodies against Brucella abortus and Leptospira interrogans in pampas deer from Brazil, J WILDL DIS, 35(1), 1999, pp. 112-114
A survey for antibodies against Brucella abortus, and Leptospira interrogan
s was conducted on 17 pampas deer (Ozotocerus bezoarticus) from Pantanal Ma
togrossense (State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) and on 24 pampas deer fro
m Parque Nacional de Emas (State of Goias, Brazil). Antibodies against B. a
bortus were detected by plate ag glutination, rose Bengal, and complement f
ixation tests, antibodies against Leptospira interrogans were detected by t
he microscopic agglutination test. All sera were negative for B. abortus an
tibodies and all deer sera from Parque Nacional de Emas were negative for L
. interrogans antibodies. Four (24%) of 17 sera from Pantanal Matogrossense
were positive for L. interrogans serovar (n = 2) hardjo, wolffi (n = 1) an
d mini (n = 1). While these diseases do not appear to be of major importanc
e to the health status of Pampas deer, it appears that deer are reservoir f
or leptospirosis in one of the study areas.