Seroprevalence for Neospora caninum in goats of Minas Gerais state, Brazil

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in serum samples from 667 goats, collected from 90 herds in 90 municipalities in eight of the twelve mesoregions of Minas Gerais State. The presence of anti-N. caninum antibodies was determined by IFAT with a cut-off value of 1:50. The true herd-level seroprevalence in the entire study area was 75.2% (CI 95%: 59.5–90.9%). The true individual-level seroprevalence in the entire study area was 10.7% (CI 95%: 8.3–13.4%) with titers ranging from 50 (50.5%) to 3200 (1.7%). The serological evidence from this study indicated that N. caninum infection is widely distributed among goat-rearing herds in Minas Gerais and further studies are needed in order to evaluate the impact of this parasite as a cause of reproductive disorders.