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Background: Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum are protozoans infecting a wide range of mammals; the etiologic agents of Toxoplasmosis and Neosporosis respectively, This study investigated the prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in dogs from southwestern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A total of 233 serum samples were obtained from both urban and rural areas of Oyo state, Nigeria and tested by the western blotting technique for specific IgG to T. gondii and N. caninum. Results: The seroprevalence obtained for T. gondii was 19% (44/233) and 2.1% (5/233) for N. caninum in the dogs examined. Overall, the prevalence of antibodies to T. gondii was more significant than for N. caninum (P< 0.0001). T. gondii infection was also found to be more significant in roaming than in caged dogs (P< 0.05). There was no significant association of other factors (age, breed, history of rabies vaccination, use of dog and the level of education of owner) with the prevalence of T. gondii and N. caninum infection. Conclusion: This report revealed that T. gondii infection is more common than N. caninum infection in Nigerian dogs, it suggests that improper housing and feeding of dogs could increase the risk of exposure to T. gondii infection. This is the first study to investigate the seroprevalence of N. caninum antibodies in Nigerian dogs and T. gondii antibodies in dogs in southwestern Nigeria.

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The prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in cattle faeces in Ogun state, Nigeria was determined by a commercially produced enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Out of a total of 200 samples, 37.5% were positive for Cryptosporidium coproantigens. The highest rate of infection (78.1%) was observed in calves up to 3 months of age while adult cattle over 4 years of age had the lowest rate of infection (25.0%). There were significant differences (p<0.05) between the infection rates of the different age groups of cattle sampled. There was however no significant difference (p>0.05) between the infection rates in males (41.2%) and females (33.6%). Furthermore, the infection rate in diarrhoeic cattle (43.2%) was not significantly higher (p>0.05) than in non-diarrhoeic cattle (32.4%). The result of the study showed that the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis is high in cattle in southwestern part of Nigeria with calves being at the highest risk.Keywords: Cattle, Cryptosporidium, ELISA,Ogun state Nigeria.