title: Herd-specific and age-specific seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in 14 British dairy herds.
abstract: All the cattle in 14 dairy herds in England were tested for Neospora caninum-specific antibodies with a commercial ELISA. Three of the herds had had sporadic abortions, eight had had endemic abortions and three had had epidemic abortions associated with N caninum before the study. Of 4295 cattle tested, 17.1 per cent were seropositive and the herd-specific prevalence ranged from 7.3 per cent to 44.8 per cent. No significant effect of either herd size (P = 0.988), endemic (P = 0.869) or epidemic (P = 0.138) patterns of abortion on herd-specific prevalence was found by using logistic regression analysis. There was no evidence in any herd of a significant increase in prevalence with age; the prevalence in seven-to 12-month-old cattle was not significantly different (P > 0.400) from the prevalence in older cattle, except that there was a significantly lower prevalence (P = 0.017) in 13-to 24-month-old cattle. The results of this study are consistent with vertical transmission being the major route of N caninum transmission in these herds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical Science and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Leahurst, Neston, South Wirral.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Davison
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Trees
mesh_terms: D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016015:Logistic Models; D018688:Neospora / Q000276:immunology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan