ABSTRACT
This research aimed to investigate, by the microscopic agglutination test, the occurrence of antibodies to leptospira in wild boar populations, with different karyotypes (2n=36, 2n=37 and 2n=38), raised in semiconfined system. Two hundred and three blood plasma samples from wild boars (46 males, 156 females and 1 intersex) from 6 municipalities of the State of São Paulo and 2 from the State of Paraná were analysed. From these samples, 132 had karyotype 2n=36, 44 had karyotype 2n=37, 17 had karyotype 2n=38 and 10 were not karyotyped (one of them was an intersex). From the animals studied, 43 (21.2%) were reactors, 25 reacted to the serovar patoc, 13 to the serovar icterohaemorrhagiae and 5 to the serovar hardjo. With regard to the sex, 10 (21.7%) of the males and 32 (20.5%) of the females were reactors; the intersex was a reactor. The relationship between serological reaction and karyotype showed that from the 132 wild boars with karyotype 2n=36, 19 (14.4%) were reactors; from the 44 animals with karyotype 2n=37, 14 (31.8%) were reactors;
from the 17 samples of wild boars with karyotype 2n=38, 6 (35.3%) were reactors, and from the 10 non-karyotyped samples, 4 (40.0%). The results of this study did not allow to associate genetic groups with susceptibility to leptospira infection, since the reactor rates observed may be related to the differences in sanitary contitions among the herds.
KEY WORDS:
Leptospirosis; wild boar; kariyotype.