Prevalence of Neospora caninum in cattle from a livestock company in the central highlands of Peru

© 2006 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. All rights reserved. Neosporosis has become a parasitosis of economic importance for dairy cattle due to abortions and neonatal mortality. The study was conducted in 2003 to determine the prevalence of Neospora caninum in cattle of the SAIS Pachacutec farm, located in the highlands of Peru. In total, 347 sera samples were collected from Brown Swiss adult cows. Samples were evaluated through the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). Results indicated that 12.4 ± 3.5% (45/347) of the animals presented antibodies against N. caninum (corrected prevalence: 13.2 ± 3.5%). The minimum and maximum seroprevalence was 2.5 and 19.6% in the 7 sampled herds, without statistical differences. All herds had at least one positive animal. The results confirmed the existence of a moderate prevalence of N. caninum in the studied area.