Seroepidemiological study of Neospora caninumin dairy cattle, Iran

摘要

The prevalence of antibodies to Neospora caninum in dairy cattle herds in Shiraz, Farsprovince, southern Iran was documented. Related risk factors for N. caninum infectionas well as association of N. caninum seropositivity with abortion in the study herds werealso investigated. A total of 32 herds were selected from dairy herds in the region and ineach herd, blood samples were collected from nearly 10% of the herd population.Overall, 169 serum samples were obtained and detection of antibodies to N. caninumwas undertaken using a commercial ELISA test. Data regarding to the history of recentabortion, keeping dogs on the farm, history of repeated abortion and accessibility ofdogs or wild carnivores to feed stuff or aborted materials were obtained byquestionnaire. Individual cow- and herd-level prevalence was 58 (95% CI: 50-66%) and78% (95% CI: 63-93%), respectively. Thirty percent of the study herds had history ofrecent abortion and 8.7% of them had history of recurrent abortion. No association wasobserved between serologic status for N. caninum and abortion or recurrent abortion.No significant association was observed between keeping dogs on the farm andserologic status for N. caninum. The association between abortion and accessibility ofwild carnivores to aborted materials was significant (P=0.006). Our results indicated thatseroprevalence of N. caninum in our study herds is relatively high. However, further epidemiological studies are needed to evaluate the definite role of the infection in theregion.