Neospora caninum: a newly recognised agent causing spontaneous abortion in Polish cattle

Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan protozoan parasite first discovered in dogs with encephalomyelitis. Neosporosis is the principle cause of diagnosed abortion among dairy and beef cattle and occurs worldwide. This paper describes some aspects of the biology, morphology, detection and protection against neosporosis. Additionally, because of lack of data about the prevalence of bovine neosporosis in Poland, preliminary results of the study carried out at W. Stefanski Institute of Parasitology of the Polish Academy of Sciences are presented. The study was carried out in terms of: prevalence of neosporosis in cows and animals from natural areas, sero-evidence of IgG against parasites, vertical transmission in three generations of cattle (grandmother, mother, heifer/bullock) and vertical transmission using embryos derived from mothers tested as Neospora-seronegative which were transferred to Neospora-seropositive mothers. Results obtained in the biochemical study seem to indicate that the concentration of creatynine kinase, alkaline phosphatase magnesium and iron in the serum should be taken into account as potential biochemical parameters reflecting N. caninum infection.