Neospora caninum, a cause of abortion in donkeys (Equus asinus) in Iran

Neospora caninum is an Apicomplexan parasite that can cause enormous economic losses due to abortions in cattle. The present study investigated the role of Neospora spp. infection in equine abortion in Iranian donkeys using molecular and phylogenetic analyses. Twenty-nine-aborted fetuses and 29 bloo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology research (1987) 2022, Vol.121 (1), p.367-372
Main Authors: Rahmani, Seyedeh Shabnam, Malekifard, Farnaz, Tavassoli, Mousa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion
Abortion, Veterinary
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cattle
Cattle Diseases
Coccidiosis
Equidae
Equus asinus
Female
Fetuses
Health aspects
Horses
Immunology
Infection
Iran
Medical Microbiology
Microbiology
Neospora
Neospora caninum
Phylogeny
Polymerase chain reaction
Pregnancy
Protozoology - Original Paper
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Summary:Neospora caninum is an Apicomplexan parasite that can cause enormous economic losses due to abortions in cattle. The present study investigated the role of Neospora spp. infection in equine abortion in Iranian donkeys using molecular and phylogenetic analyses. Twenty-nine-aborted fetuses and 29 blood samples from their dams were collected from six different regions in the West and Northwest of Iran. They were tested for N. caninum by PCR at the Nc5 locus, followed by sequencing of five of the PCR products. The overall molecular prevalence was 34.5% in blood samples and the prevalence by DNA detection in the aborted fetuses was 13.8%. Evidence of transplacental transmission from positive jennies to their fetuses was detected in 40% of aborting jennies. Comparison of the five partial Nc5 sequences (227 bp length) exhibited 98–100% similarity with N. caninum GenBank sequences. This is the first molecular study and genetic characterization of N. caninum in Iranian donkeys suggests that N. caninum may be a significant cause of abortion in donkeys. Graphical abstract
ISSN:0932-0113
1432-1955
DOI:10.1007/s00436-021-07383-6