Isolation of Leptospira interrogans from kidneys of Zimbabwe beef cattle

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare.

Four hundred and eighty bovine kidneys were collected from an abattoir near Harare between December 1987 and November 1988, and leptospires were recovered from 50 (10.4 per cent) of them. The isolates were identified to serogroup level by the microscopic agglutination test; 32 belonged to serogroup Sejroe, seven were Pyogenes, four Hebdomadis, two Tarassovi, and one isolate each belonged to serogroups Australis, Bataviae, Grippotyphosa, Icterohaemorrhagiae and Pomona.