Determination of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in aborted bovine foetuses by duplex PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence methods

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the existence of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in aborted bovine foetuses. In this research, 102 bovine foetuses were examined by duplex PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence to determine the presence of N. caninum and T. gondii. None of the aborted bovine foetuses were shown to have T. gondii, but N. caninum was detected in 26 foetuses (25.49%) by duplex PCR, in 18 (17.64%) by immunohistochemistry and in 8 (7.84%) by immunofluorescence. Moreover, 16 livers, 13 kidneys, 12 spleens, 8 thymuses and 5 brains of the 18 foetuses examined by immunohistochemistry showed immunopositivity. Positive staining was found in the spleen of eight foetuses by the immunofluorescence method. In this study, immunohistochemistry was shown to be superior to immunofluorescence in terms of diagnosis. Although immunofluorescence has the advantage of being the easiest to use in practice, it makes diagnosis more difficult because of its non-specific staining.

A diagnostic survey of Neosporacaninum infection in aborted fetuses in the Middle Black Sea Region and Sivas Province, Turkey

“…In the current study, the real-time PCR result for the proportion of aborted bovine fetuses infected with N. caninum (48.9%) was considerably higher than those reported from the vicinity of Elazığ in Turkey (25.49%) with the use of duplex PCR [17] and the 35.07% and 32.35% for N. caninum antibodies in cattle in different parts of Turkey reported by Pişkin and Ütük [18] and Erol et al [19], respectively. Anatolian sheepdogs kept with sheep flocks close to cattle herds might be a potential risk factor for bovine infection in the area where the present study was conducted.…”

“…However, molecular analysis methods are more sensitive than serological methods in differentiating abortion materials and genital tract pathogens [1]. There have been several studies on the seroprevalence of neosporosis in cattle in Turkey [21,22,23] and also few molecular and histopathological studies specifically done on neosporosis in aborted tissues [16,17].…”

“…There have been a few molecular studies on bovine neosporosis in parts of Turkey [11,16,17]. In Turkey, seropositivity for N. caninum in cattle in Kars was 8.2% with the use of ELISA [8], 7.01% with cELISA in the Eastern Anatolian region [9], 37.7% with ELISA in some parts of Turkey [11], 35.07% with IFAT in different parts of Turkey [18], 32.35% with cELISA in different parts of Turkey [19], and 7.2% with cELISA in Kars [20].…”