Leptospirosis is a disease with major economic impact on livestock industry. The objective of this work was to determine the presence of Leptospira spp. DNA by qPCR in bovine fetuses with presumptive diagnosis of leptospirosis as the cause of abortion. Leptospira spp. DNA was detected by qPCR in 11 out of 34 fetuses. These specimens (10/11) had histopathological findings in hepatic and/or renal tissues compatible with leptospirosis. qPCR detection rate (32.4 %) was higher compared with direct immuno-fluorescence antibody test (DFAT) (11.8 %). The concordance coefficient between both techniques was 0.44. qPCR is a rapid and sensitive technique for the diagnosis of leptospirosis and improved the detection rate in fetal tissues compared with DFAT. Implementation of molecular techniques may increase the accurate detection of leptospirosis as a cause of bovine abortion allowing the application of rapid therapeutic and prophylactics measures in order to reduce the impact of this zoonotic disease.

钩端螺旋体病是一种对畜牧业产生重大经济影响的疾病。这项工作的目的是确定钩端螺旋体的存在。通过qPCR检测牛胎儿DNA，推测诊断为钩端螺旋体病是流产的原因。钩端螺旋体spp。通过qPCR在34个胎儿中的11个中检测到DNA。这些标本（10/11）在与钩端螺旋体病相容的肝和/或肾组织中有组织病理学发现。与直接免疫荧光抗体试验（DFAT）（11.8％）相比，qPCR的检出率（32.4％）更高。两种技术之间的一致性系数为0.44。与DFAT相比，qPCR是一种诊断钩端螺旋体病的快速灵敏技术，可提高胎儿组织中的检出率。实施分子技术可以提高对钩端螺旋体病的准确检测，因为钩端螺旋体病是牛流产的原因，因此可以采取快速的治疗和预防措施，以减少这种人畜共患疾病的影响。