title: [First documentation of a neospora-induced "abortion storm" (exogenous transplacental transmission of neospora caninum) in a Swiss dairy farm].
abstract: In a Swiss dairy farm (canton of Geneva) consisting of 73 animals 8 abortions were observed within 2 weeks. Serological and molecular biological analyses (PCR) on aborting dams, and abortion materials, respectively, revealed that the protozoan parasite Neospora caninum was the causative agent. Besides the 8 aborting animals, 12 other non-aborting heifers were found to be serologically positive for this parasite. All positive sera were further tested in an avidity-ELISA to elucidate the recency of infection. All seropositive animals but one showed low avidities at the time the abortion storm started. This indicated at a recent N. caninum-infection within the herd. Thus, the animals most probably were exposed to N. caninum-oocysts (e.g. by dog feces-contaminated forage) and the resulting abortion storm was due to an exogenous (formerly known as "horizontal") parasite transmission into a naive herd. This is the first documented record of such an event in Switzerland.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Parasitologie, l'Université de Berne.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sager
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hüssy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuffer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schreve
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gottstein
mesh_terms: D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D018688:Neospora / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan