A serosurvey for brucellosis in wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Sardinia, Italy

Abstract

Porcine brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Brucella suis and hosted by pigs (Sus scrofa). Both domestic pigs and wild boars are affected. We measured the prevalence of antibody to Brucella spp. in wild boars in Sardinia, Italy. During 1 November 2009 to 31 January 2010, we collected 570 serum samples from legally hunted wild boars and tested them using a commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Sex and age class of the sampled wild boars were also recorded. Thirty-five samples were positive for an apparent antibody prevalence of 6.1%. Antibody prevalences did not differ between sexes or among age classes.