Anti Chlamydia abortus antibodies in aborted cattle in some farms around Tehran, Iran

Infertility due to Chlamydial infection has been reported worldwide and Chlamydophila abortus as one of the main causes of abortion, is still a major problem of the livestock industry. However there is inadequate information about Chlamydial infection rates of cattle in Iran. In this study blood samples were taken from 184 cattle belong to 3 industrial farms around Tehran. All samples were analyzed using an ELISA kit manufactured by IDEEX company, then the presence of antibodies against Chlamydophila abortus in serum were measured. The relationship between the occurrence of infection, age and number of abortion were analyzed statistically by chi-square test using SPSS. Eighty-nine (48.4%) of cattle had antibodies against Chlamydophila abortus. From seropositive and seronegative animals, 20 and 18 of them had more than one abortion respectively. At least 38 animals had two abortions. There was no significant difference between the number of abortion and age in seropositive animals. According to the contamination of all the three farms in this study, it is necessary to pay more attention to the C. abortus along with other infectious causes of abortion in cattle.