Analisi della sieroprevalenza di N. caninum e T. gondii negli allevamenti ovicaprini della regione Emilia-Romagna (Italia)

Abstract

Neosporosis is recognized as one of the main causes of abortion in cattle worldwide but can also cause abortion and reproductive failure in sheep and goats. Its role in ovine reproductive losses is increasing but the knowledge about the epidemiology of neosporosis in sheep and goats is still limited. Moreover, ovine neosporosis might be more prevalent than initially thought and the global epidemiological evidence confirms that ovine neosporosis is a worldwide emerging disease, potentially dangerous especially for those country that mainly breed sheep and goat. In Italy, no official controls for N. caninum are applied. All seroprevalence data available come from local studies, but no data were available for Emilia-Romagna region. This study aimed to estimate the pooled seroprevalence of N. caninum in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) together with comparison with seroprevalence of T. gondii in order to evaluate the differences of this two parasite incidence and distribution. Twenty-four herds for a total of 100 sheep and 25 goats (125 animal in total) were included. The seroprevalence of N. caninum was estimated to be 4.8% (3% in sheep and 12% in goat) while the seroprevalence of T. gondii was estimated to be 32% (39% in sheep and 4% in goats) using serological methods (test ELISA: Test Neospora caninum Ab – IDEXX Neospora; Test IDEXX Toxotest Ab). All the sieropositive sheep came from the province of Ravenna while all the seropositive goats came from the province of Forlì-Cesena. The present results show a relatively low seroprevalence of N. caninum infection in sheep and a high seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in the same ovine population. The present results also show a relatively high seroprevalence of N. caninum infection in goats and a low seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in the same caprine population.