Abstract
Neosporosis is an infectious disease caused by the parasite Neospora caninum. Knowledge regarding neosporosis in goats is still quite limited, especially in the state of Santa Catarina (SC), southern Brazil. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the seroprevalence and risk factors for N. caninum in goats in the western and mountain regions of SC. Blood samples were collected from 654 goats in 57 municipalities. The indirect immunofluorescence test was used for antibody detection against N. caninum. Thirty samples (4.58%) were seropositive, with titers ranging from 1:50 to 1:6400. An epidemiological survey was also conducted in order to identify risk factors for neosporosis in goats. It was found that reproductive problems on the farms, as well as the diet and direct contact with dogs were casual risks for neosporosis. These results indicate that N. caninum infects goats in these regions, which may lead to reproductive problems.
Highlights
Neospora caninum is an obligate intracellular coccidian of the phylum Apicomplexa (DUBEY et al, 1988)
There was a weak correlation between age and neosporosis infection; this was identified as a confounding factor, given that it changed the parameter estimates for some of the selected variables by more than 25%, which forced it into the model
This study provides the first report of N. caninum seroprevalence in goats in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Summary
Neospora caninum is an obligate intracellular coccidian of the phylum Apicomplexa (DUBEY et al, 1988). Infection by N. caninum can cause a clinical disease called neosporosis, which is characterized mainly by abortion (LARSON et al, 2004), fetal death, reabsorption, mummification, autolysis or stillbirth; or by live birth but with adverse clinical signs; or by clinically normal birth but with chronic infection (DUBEY; LINDSAY, 1996). Clinical neosporosis has been reported in sheep and goats (DUBEY, 2003). Antibodies against N. caninum were reported in goats in Sri Lanka (NAGULESWARAN et al, 2004), Argentina (MOORE et al, 2007), Brazil (FARIA et al, 2007) and Poland (CZOPOWICZ et al, 2011). In order to confirm the diagnosis relating to abortion in goats, molecular techniques have been used in some Italian studies, in which presence of N. caninum was associated with aborted fetuses in 2 out of 23 animals (8.7%), from PCR (MASALA et al, 2007)
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