title: Comparative study for the detection of antibodies to Neospora caninum in milk and sera in dairy cattle in southern Romania.
abstract: The study aimed to assess the within-herd Neospora caninum exposure in dairy cattle in southern Romania, based on the detection of specific antibodies in milk and serum. A total of 104 paired samples of milk and serum were collected from four dairy farms. Individual samples were analyzed for N. caninum antibodies by ELISA: IDEXX Neospora Ab (Idx) (three farms: A, B, C; n = 60) and ID-VET Lab (Idv) (farm D; n = 44). Additionally, four pooled milk samples, one per each farm (A, B, C) and a composed one (A+B+C), were analyzed with Idx ELISA. Optimized cut-off values for milk samples were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, with serum results considered as true status. The agreement was expressed by K values. The overall seroprevalence of N. caninum infection was 45% in the farms tested by Idx ELISA and 56.8% in the farm tested by Idv ELISA. A good agreement between serum and milk was obtained for both ELISA kits (K = 0.72 and 0.77, respectively). The specificity and sensitivity at optimized cut-off of S/P>0.704 for Idx and S/P%>7.966% for Idv were 100% and 70.37% for Idx and 89.47% and 88% for Idv. Testing pooled milk samples, there were identified as N. caninum positive the dairy farms with a 15% or higher within-herd seroprevalence at the cut-off value of S/P>0.51. This is the first study in Romania in which milk samples were tested to determine the N. caninum infection status in dairy farms, providing a base for further researches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 050097, Splaiul Independentei, 105, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Enachescu
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ionita
authors.forename: Ioan Liviu
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Mitrea
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D018688:Neospora / Q000276:immunology*; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan