Seroprevalence of Neospora Caninum in Sheep and Goats of Gua Musang district in Kelantan, Malaysia

Exposure of Neospora caninum parasite in sheep and goats in Kelantan was first reported in March 2016. Out of 10 districts surveyed in Kelantan, Gua Musang was the only district with seropositive animals, suggesting that there might be potential infection of this parasite in sheep and goats in this area. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2015 to February 2016 to investigate the prevalence and impact of N. caninum in sheep and goats in that area. A total of 311 sheep and goat blood samples from 37 farms and 10 animals from each farm were collected. A questionnaire on the risk factors (abortion history, presence of dogs and closeness to the cattle farms) was developed for analysis. Serological test was done using a commercial ELISA kit. Seroprevalence was found to be 0.32% (1/311). Although the results i.e. presence of stray dogs (32.4%12/37), abortion history (48.6%18/37) and closeness to the cattle farms (27%10/37) were rather high, the very low seroprevalence showed that these risk factors were not related to neospora infection. The results suggested that N. caninum was not the cause of reproductive failure in sheep and goats in Gua Musang