Bovine brucellosis and neosporosis in beef farms in the Argentine Republic: Update on epidemiological and economic aspects

The presence of abortive diseases threatens the productivity of breeding herds, especially in a livestock country like Argentina. Bovine brucellosis and neosporosis are similar in the way they spread and as a cause of abortions. The first is a zoonotic bacterial disease that is under the National Control Plan, while the second is a parasitic disease that does not have it. The current National Control Plan against brucellosis has as main strategies the mandatory vaccination of calves from 3 to 8 months of age, movement control and the detection and control of positive properties. The << Mandatory Determination of Health Status-DOES >> is highlighted as a tool that seeks to know the health condition of the herds. The prevalence at the animal level is 0.51%, while at the establishment level it has remained above 12% since the first national sample. Stricter identification and control of positive herds, intensification of livestock movement control measures, and strategic approval of vaccines that do not interfere with diagnosis could help control the disease. The economic losses found do not reveal their true implication in beef herds, either due to their limitations in the application of economic methodologies or because they are not differentiated from dairy herds. With respect to neosporosis, prevalence estimates are non-existent and scarce at the national level and in the provinces outside the Pampas, while for the Pampas Region it was above 17% two decades ago. The absence of a national plan, as well as the lack of effective treatments and vaccines, suggest that its control depends exclusively on the management measures applied by producers. The overestimation of the productive and economic losses found does not allow us to reveal the true economic impact of neosporosis.