Identification of factors associated with exposure to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in dairy-herd calves in the Bogotá savanna

Abstract

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a pathogen that affects bovine health it produces clinical signs such as bronchopneumonia, diarrhea, teratogenicity, and reproductive losses. This study aimed to determine seroprevalence and some other factors associated with exposure to BVDV in a total of 930 calves from 31 dairy herds in the Bogotá savanna. The data of the herds, as well as individual information of the calves, were collected through an epidemiological survey. An ELISA test was used to detect antibodies to BVDV p80. Data were analyzed with frequency and descriptive statistics, univariate analysis, and a binary logistic regression model, in which confounding factors were evaluated through a comparison between crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR). The average seroprevalence of BVDV was 27.1% (range 0-90%) additionally, antibodies against BVDV were observed in 83.9% of the herds. The factors associated with exposure to BVDV were: 1) age of animals under 4 months (OR = 4.9 95% CI: 2.52-9.56) 2) records of abortion of the mother (OR = 6.4 95% CI: 3.91-10.46 p = 0.001) and 3) records of diarrhea (OR = 2.6 95% CI: 1.58-4.46 p = 0.010). This study allowed confirming a high exposure to the virus in these herds and identifying some associated factors, which contributes to a better understanding of the epidemiology of the disease.