Abstract

Bovine abortion generates economic losses in herds. When finding its causes, only infectious elements are usually analysed, and a diagnosis is obtained for nearly half of the cases. It is necessary to handle the problem in its multicausality by considering both infectious and non-infectious elements and to identify the causal patterns that affect each herd. This is the only way to achieve a significant reduction of the problem. There are epidemiological tools to suitably characterise the problem and identify the different factors that may be involved. This multivariate approach can serve as a model of analysis for other problems with compound causes.