ENVIRONMENTAL AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTS ON PREVALENCE OF UPWARD FIXATION OF PATELLA IN CATTLE IN GOIÁS STATE, BRAZIL: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

Upward fixation of patella is a chronic disease observed in bovines managed in several kinds of handling systems and presents in unilateral or bilateral clinical form, affecting male and females, different breeds and age. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of the disease in Goias State using a questionnaire that allows to characterize the farms in aspects as time of cattle breeding, soil topography, bred herd and adopted management, the main age of the animals at the beginning of the disease, destiny of ill bovines, among others parameters. It was analyzed in this study 128 farms in 59 cities from the Goias State involving a total of 118,657 animals from 15 different breeds, in dry weather, between August and October, 2003. From 128 studied properties, in 32 (25.0%) the UFP never had been diagnosed; in 46 (36,0%) farms it was observed 110 (29.1%) bovines with UFP along the years of cattle breeding. In the 50 (39.0%) lasting farms, the total of the past occurrence and the occurrence of UFP at the moment of the application of the questionnaire was present in 268 (69.6%) bovines. Among the animals diag-nosed with UFP, 61 (0.5%) belonged to Girolando breed and 22 (0.04%) were Nelore bovines. The results obtained in this research allowed to conclude that UFP in bovines is a multifactorial disease and the factors, breed, age, soil topography of the farms and time of cattle breeding are the main factors associated to unleashing of this disease.

Key-words: Epidemiology, locomotion system, ruminants.