Seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in Goats in Nigde Province

This study was performed to investigate seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in goats in Nigde province between February 2010-May 2010. A total of 181 goats which were one year old or more than one year old, were selected from eight different study sites (Bahceli, Centrum - Tepekoy, Bor, Camardi Celaller Village, Kizilca, Cukurkuyu, Ulukisla, ye Central Camardi) as the study sample and N. caninum antibodies were tested in these goats serum using ELISA. The 47 out of 181 sera (25.9%) were found to be seropositive for N. caninum. In the serologic examinations, the seropositivity rate was highest in 5 years old (42.3%) while it was lowest in 3 years old (13.8%) in goats. The 6 (37.5%) out of 16 aborted goats and 41 (24.8%) out of 165 non-aborted were detected as seropositive. The highest seropositivity rate of study sites was determined in Camardi as 54.5% in addition to this, none of examined goats in Bahceli and Kizilca detected seropositivity. The difference between the seropositivity rates to N. caninum among age groups and study sites was statistically significant (P<0.05, P<0.01, respectively) while the difference to N. caninum among aborted and non-aborted goats was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). As a result, this is the first serologic survey for N. caninum performed on goats in Nigde province and neosporosis should be taken into consideration in abortion cases.