Neospora associated abortion in Mares

The take home message: Do all you can to keep dogs, foxes, coyotes, wolves out of the pasture. A low electric wire could be very effective.

Here is why: Neospora has long been known as a cause of abortion in cows and brain disease in dogs. Dogs are the definitive host that transmit the disease to cows through a fecal oral route. Cows are intermediate host with a vertical transmission through the placenta to the calf. The life cycle is completed when dogs ingest infected meat. Horses are known to become infected much like cows with brain disease resulting in some cases. There has been growing thoughts that Neospora may be associated with abortions in horses, like in cattle. Here support, but not proof, is found for this idea.
DrO

Detection of Neospora caninum Infection in Aborted Equine Fetuses in Israel
Pathogens. 2020 Nov 19;9(11):E962.
Authors
Monica Leszkowicz Mazuz 1 , Lea Mimoun 2 , Gili Schvartz 2 , Sharon Tirosh-Levy 1 2 , Igor Savitzki 1 , Nir Edery 3 , Shlomo E Blum 4 , Gad Baneth 2 , Nicola Pusterla 5 , Amir Steinman 2
Affiliations

1 Division of Parasitology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Beit Dagan 50200, Israel.
2 Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
3 Division of Pathology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Beit Dagan 50200, Israel.
4 Division of Bacteriology, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Beit Dagan 50200, Israel.
5 Department of Veterinary Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

Abstract

In horses, Neospora caninum and Neospora hughesi have been associated with fetal loss, and neurological disease, respectively. This study investigated the role of Neospora spp. infection in equine abortion in Israel. The presence of anti-Neospora spp. antibodies was evaluated in 31 aborting mares by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and the presence of parasite DNA in their aborted fetuses was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using two target loci (ITS1 and Nc5). The seroprevalence found in aborting mares was 70.9% and the prevalence by DNA detection in the aborted fetuses was 41.9%. Transplacental transmission from positive mares to their fetuses was 45.4% (10/22), while 33.3% (3/9) of fetuses of seronegative mares also tested positive for Neospora. The use of two PCR targets improved the sensitivity of parasite detection, and positive samples were identified by sequence analyses as N. caninum. These finding suggest that N. caninum could be a significant cause of abortion in horses, and that transplacental transmission in horses is an important way of transmission of N.caninum. The results presented here demonstrated the necessity to use several tests concurrently, including serological and molecular assays in order to confirm the involvement of Neospora in mare abortions.