Neospora caninum infection in an aborted bovine foetus in Brazil

Authors: Haritani M, Sartor IF, Monteiro LA, Gondim LFP
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 47, Issue 1, pp 35, Feb 1999
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Cattle, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Abortion/stillbirth, Reproduction, International, Protozoa, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Reproduction - female
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan protozoan parasite first reported in dogs (Bjerkas et al., 1984; Dubey et al., 1988a, 198815) and subsequently recognised as a cause of bovine abortion (Dubey and Lindsay, 1993). Natural N. caninum infections have been reported in other animal species including the goat, sheep, horse and deer (Dubey and Lindsay, 1996). The dog was recently identified as definitive host of the parasite (McAllister et al., 1998). Neospora caninum has a worldwide distribution (Barber et al., 1995; Duivenvoorden, 1995; Jardine and Wells, 1995; Stenlund et al., 1997; Thornton et al., 1991; Umemura et al., 1992) but the presence of N. caninum in Brazil has not been confirmed. We would like to report the detection of N. caninum in an 8-month-old aborted Holstein-cross foetus. The animal belonged to a small dairy farm in which cows had recently aborted. Ten cows were tested for N. caninum antibodies by the immunofluorescent antibody test (VMRD, Pullman, USA) and six animals showed…

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