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The protozoan Neospora caninum is the cause of reproductive diseases in some species of domestic animals that results in severe economic losses to livestock production. These diseases might be transmitted by infected females to their offspring or from oocysts eliminated within the feces of the definitive hosts. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of serum antibodies of N. caninum in sheep maintained on farms located in northern Paraná, Brazil. Serum samples were obtained from 381 sheep and 25 dogs that were maintained in 11 farming units to detect the presence of anti-N. caninum antibodies by using the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA); titers of antibodies that were ≥ 50 were considered as positive. The results from this study demonstrated that 13.91% of sheep (10.7%

Cooccidiosis is one of the most important causes of economic losses within the poultry industry. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pathogenicity of E. tenella, E. acervulina, and E. maxima strains in commercial broilers chicks. Thirty nine commercial one day old broiler chicks, unvaccinated against coccidiosis, were used during this experiment. At day 14, chickens of G1 (n=10), G2 (n=10) and G3 (n=10) were infected with 2 x 10 4 sporulated oocysts of E. tenella, E. acervulina, and E. maxima respectively; G4 (n=9) served as the uninfected control group. All birds were sacrificed with 21 day old (seven days after infection). The prepatent period (PPP) for G1 and G3 was seven days, however, E. acervulina (G2) had a PPP of five days. No statistical differences were observed when the average weight gain (G1=182.7±63.4; G2=145.2±51.0; G3=183.3±56.8; and G4=211.5±89.0, p>0.10) of the evaluated groups was compared. Average of lesion scores were determined G1 (1.3±0.48, scores 1(n=7) and 2(n=3)), G2 (0.4±0.52, scores 0(n=6), 1(n=4)), and G3 (1.1±0.99, scores 0(n=4), 1(n=1) and 2(n=5)). Chickens from the infected groups (G1, G2 and G4) did not demonstrate a lesion score above 2. The histopathological lesions induced by these strains were consistent with those described for infection by Eimeria spp.