Detection of Neospora caninum DNA in cases of bovine and ovine abortion in the South-West of Scotland

Neospora caninum is a commonly diagnosed cause of reproductive losses in farmed ruminants worldwide. This study examined 495 and 308 samples (brain, heart and placenta) which were collected from 455 and 119 aborted cattle and sheep fetuses, respectively. DNA was extracted and a nested Neospora ITS1...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology 2019-06, Vol.146 (7), p.979-982
Main Authors: Bartley, P. M., Guido, S., Mason, C., Stevenson, H., Chianini, F., Carty, H., Innes, E. A., Katzer, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aborted Fetus - parasitology
Abortion
Abortion, Veterinary - parasitology
Animals
Beef
Bovidae
Brain
Brain - parasitology
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - parasitology
Cattle industry
Dairy industry
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA, Intergenic - isolation & purification
DNA, Protozoan - isolation & purification
Economic impact
Farm management
Farms - statistics & numerical data
Female
Fetuses
Genetic testing
Heart
Heart - parasitology
Infections
Livestock farming
Neospora - isolation & purification
Neospora caninum
Ovis aries
Parasites
Placenta
Placenta - parasitology
Polymerase chain reaction
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic - parasitology
Sheep
Sheep Diseases - parasitology
Studies
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Summary:Neospora caninum is a commonly diagnosed cause of reproductive losses in farmed ruminants worldwide. This study examined 495 and 308 samples (brain, heart and placenta) which were collected from 455 and 119 aborted cattle and sheep fetuses, respectively. DNA was extracted and a nested Neospora ITS1 PCR was performed on all samples. The results showed that for bovine fetuses 79/449 brain [17.6% (14.2–21.4)], 7/25 heart [28.0% (12.1–49.4)] and 5/21 placenta [23.8% (8.2–47.2)] were PCR positive for the presence of Neospora DNA. Overall 82/455 [18.0% (14.6–21.7)] of the bovine fetuses tested positive for the presence of N. caninum DNA in at least one sample. None (0/308) of the ovine fetal samples tested positive for the presence of Neospora DNA in any of the tissues tested. The results show that N. caninum was associated with fetal losses in cattle (distributed across South-West Scotland), compared to sheep in the same geographical areas where no parasite DNA was found. Neospora is well distributed amongst cattle in South-West Scotland and is the potential cause of serious economic losses to the Scottish cattle farming community; however, it does not appear to be a problem amongst the Scottish sheep flocks.
ISSN:0031-1820
1469-8161
DOI:10.1017/S0031182019000301