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Seroprevalence of Antibodies to Neospora caninum in Urban and Rural Dogs in north‐west Italy
Author(s) -
Ferroglio E.,
Pasino M.,
Ronco F.,
Benà A.,
Trisciuoglio A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
zoonoses and public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1863-2378
pISSN - 1863-1959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2007.01033.x
Subject(s) - seroprevalence , neospora caninum , neospora , north west , veterinary medicine , geography , antibody , biology , medicine , serology , immunology , toxoplasma gondii , physical geography
Summary Sera were collected from 490 dogs from north‐west Italy. One hundred and eighty‐eight dogs were urban, while 302 dogs were rural. Among the latter, 190 were shepherd dogs and 112 were cattle farm dogs. Sera were tested for the presence of antibodies against Neospora caninum using the Neospora agglutination test. Seroprevalence at 1/40, 1/80, 1/160 dilution titres was significantly higher in rural (36.4%, 19.5%, 9.9% respectively) than in urban dogs (20.2%, 10.6%, 4.8% respectively). Seroprevalence did not differ significantly in males and females. In shepherd dogs, prevalence increased according to dogs’ age, thus suggesting a post‐natal exposure by horizontal transmission. The observed higher seroprevalence in rural dogs suggests the importance of lifestyle and alimentary habits (i.e. aborted foetuses, placentas and small mammals) in the acquisition of N. caninum infection. Our results confirm that dogs are exposed to N. caninum and play an important role in the epidemiology of N. caninum .