title: Prevalence and transmission of Neospora caninum within infected Swedish dairy herds.
abstract: In this long-term study, the changes in within-herd Neospora caninum seroprevalences and the relative importance of horizontal and vertical parasite transmission in Swedish dairy herds were investigated. The within-herd prevalences varied between 5.8% and 65.0% when the herds were first sampled. Comparing the prevalences of year 2000 with those found 2-3 years later, nine out of 14 investigated herds had a similar or lower within-herd prevalence while five herds had an increased portion of seropositive individuals. Three herds were free or almost free from infection at their last sampling. Changes in prevalence were not related to the level of prevalence that each herd had when first sampled. Antibody avidity measurements revealed that the majority of seropositive individuals in all herds were chronically infected. Dam-calf pair investigations and inspection of genealogic trees supplemented with antibody test results showed that vertical transmission was by far the dominant transmission route in all herds. Taken together, these results indicate that the prevalence of N. caninum infection in Swedish dairy cattle can be successfully reduced if actions to eliminate infection in a herd are combined with preventive measures to avoid re-infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7019, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. jenny.frossling@sva.se
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frössling
authors.forename: Arvid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uggla
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Björkman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D000915:Antibody Affinity; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000635:transmission; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000662:veterinary*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000662:veterinary*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018688:Neospora / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010375:Pedigree; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan