The importance of bovine neosporosis for abortion in Switzerland

Abstract

The protozoan parasite Neospora caninum is one of the most important infectious abortion causes in cattle worldwide. In a Swiss case-control-study we investigated 113 abortion problem farms and 113 control farms. It was possible to detect N. caninum in 21% of 242 investigated aborted fetuses by PCR upon brain samples. Eighty-four % of mothers aborting N. caninum positive fetuses were serologically positive for this parasite. The seroprevalence for N. caninum of all aborting mothers was 44%. Within a period of 3 to 12 months 4,505 cattle from the participating farms were investigated serologically at two different time points. Strong fluctuations of the specific antibody concentration could be observed, resulting in a conversion to seronegativity in the second blood sample in 39% of formerly seropositive animals. Eighteen months after the end of the study, 42 case- and 42 controlfarms were questioned about their present abortion-status. Analysis of the questionnaire revealed that 80% of the former abortion problem farms observed an improvement of the situation. However, in 43% of those farms no preventive measures had been taken and no significant differences in hygiene, forage and animal turnover could be observed between case- and control-farms. Additionally, no significant differences were detected concerning risk factors such as the presence of farm dogs and the disposal procedure for placental and fetal material.