Epydemiological aspects of bovine neosporosis in north east Spain. A clinical perspective

Epydemiological aspects of bovine neosporosis in north east Spain. A clinical perspective Neospora caninum has been found to infect a wide range of animals and it has emerged as a very important cause of abortion in cattle worldwide. In Spain, high herd seroprevalence and high percentages of infected aborted fetuses have been observed. We revise here several epidemiological aspects of neosporosis based on our studies in high producing dairy herds in North-eastern Spain. Our results indicated a close relationship between mother seropositivity to N. caninum and abortion risk and that irrespective of the herd level of Neospora-seroprevalence, plasma antibody titration against N. caninum is a good indicator of risk of abortion; Neospora-infection does not affect fertility nor compromises the subsequent maintenance of gestation during the first trimester of gestation in animals chronically infected prior to pregnancy; Neospora-seropositivity can be very stable throughout years so that chronically infected cows can show a high rate of repeat abortions; and that the use of beef semen, especially that derived from the Limousin bulls, reduces dramatically the incidence of abortions. The later approach has been included in the control measures for neosporosis in dairy herds with high prevalence of N. caninum and significantly reduced both abortion and seroprevalence levels in those herds.