Incidence of abortions caused by leptospirosis in sheep and goats in Spain.

From 1970 to 1985, 973 outbreaks of abortion in sheep and 262 outbreaks of abortion in goats from southern Spain were studied. Of these, 1.7 and 2.6% respectively were caused by leptospiras, chiefly by the serovar pomona (11 flocks of sheep, 64.7%, and six herds of goats, 75.0%) and in a lower proportion the serovars sejroe (three flocks of sheep 17.6%, and one herd of goats, 12.5%), icterohaemorrhagiae (two and one outbreaks respectively) and grippotyphosa in one ovine flock (5.8%). The mean rates of attach (X + SD) of abortions by leptospirosis have been estimated as 16.9 + 6.5% in ovine outbreaks and 20.7 + 8.3% among goats.