The first report of ovine cerebral neosporosis and evaluation of Neospora caninum prevalence in sheep in New South Wales

Abstract

Presence of Neospora caninum DNA was detected in the brain and spinal cord of an adult Merino sheep suspected of dying with acute non-suppurative meningoencephalitis and mild to moderate non-suppurative myelitis. The most severe neurological lesions were found in the midbrain at the rostral coliculi with moderate to severe multifocal vasculitis and gliosis. As this was the first known occurrence of cerebral disease in sheep in Australia caused by N. caninum, we surveyed sera from five sheep properties in New South Wales (NSW) to obtain information on the likely prevalence of N. caninum infection in NSW sheep flocks. Serology using a commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed no N. caninum antibody-positive sheep (n=184). However an observed prevalence for N. caninum antibodies using a commercially available competitive ELISA was 2.2% (5/232). We conclude that although the diagnosis of fatal ovine cerebral neosporosis is of importance to our surveillance program for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) exclusion, sheep in NSW are not commonly infected with N. caninum and this species likely plays only a minor role in the life cycle of this parasite in Australia.

Sheep abortion associated with Neospora caninum in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

“…Diffuse gliosis associated to mononuclear cell foci found in the brain fragments was not as severe as described by Bishop et al (2010), who observed, in addition to these lesions, necrosis and edema at the rostral colliculi in the midbrain of sheep fetuses infected by N. caninum. described brain hemorrhage.…”

Os parasitas de ovinos

“…Os gerbilos (Meriones unguiculatus) vêm sendo amplamente utilizados em bioensaios e isolamento do agente Lindsay, 2000;Rodrigues et al, 2005). Para o sorodiagnóstico de N. caninum, duas técnicas principais vêm sendo empregadas: a RIFI (Bjorkman; Uggla, 1999; Ragozo et al, 2003;Figliuolo et al, 2004;Soares et al, 2009;Machado et al, 2011) e o ELISA Bishop et al, 2011;Pandero et al, 2010).…”

Occurrence of anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in sheep from farms located in northern Parana, Brazil

“…Repetitive abortions, as have been described in cows, can also occur in sheep (JOLLEY et al, 1999). Cerebral neosporosis was detected in an adult Merino sheep from Australia suspected of dying with acute nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis and mild to moderate non-suppurative myelitis (BISHOP et al, 2010).…”