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Title: SEROLOGICAL EVIDENCE IMPLICATING NEOSPORA SP. AS A CAUSE OF ABORTION IN BRITISH CATTLE

Author
item TREES A J - UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
item LOW J C - SCOTTISH AGRIC COLLEGE
item ROBERTS L - SCOTTISH AGRIC COLLEGE
item BUXTON D - MOREDUN RESEARCH INST
item DUBEY JITENDER P - 1265-55-00

Submitted to: Veterinary Record
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/4/1994
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Neospora caninum is a recently described parasite of livestock and pets. It can cause paralysis in pets and neonatal disease in livestock. Its life cycle and source of infection are unknown. Neospora parasites have been recently recognized as a major cause of abortion in dairy cattle in the United States. Diagnosis is usually made by identification of the parasite in tissue sections. A blood (indirect fluorescent antibody) test is being evaluated for the diagnosis of abortion in cattle. Scientists at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the University of Liverpool in U.K. report for the first time high antibody titers in herd of cattle that aborted on a farm in Scotland, U.K. These data should be helpful in the diagnosis of abortion in cattle

Technical Abstract: By means of an immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) using in vitro cultured parasites as antigen, antibodies to Neospora sp. at titres > 1/1280 were found in 9.2% (11/120) of Scottish cattle that had recently aborted but in only 1% (1/97) of cattle from herds without a recent abortion problem (differences significant p < 0.01, = 6.8). The specificity of the antibodies assayed was confirmed by the lack of cross-reactivity of high titre Neospora samples with Toxoplasma antigen in a direct agglutination test, and the absence of reactivity at > 1/640 in the Neospora IFAT of convalescent sera from cattle experimentally infected with Toxoplasma gondii, Sarcocystis cruzi, Eimeria bovis, E. alabamensis, Cryptosporidium parvum and Babesia divergens. These results demonstrate that Neospora infection is prevalent in aborting cattle in Britain. They further show that the IFAT test may provide a useful tool to investigate this infection further