Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Neosporosis antibody screening in Hungarian household and stray dogs
By Hornok, S et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2006·Department of Parasitology and Zoology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine neosporosis in Hungary: screening for seroconversion of household, herding and stray dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study in Hungary found that 19 out of 651 dogs tested positive for a parasite called Neospora caninum, which can cause neuromuscular issues like imbalance and tremors, as well as skin problems. Most of the infected dogs were herding dogs living on farms, where they likely had more exposure to infected cattle. Interestingly, rural dogs had a higher rate of infection compared to those in cities. This research highlights the importance of monitoring for this parasite, especially in dogs that live in farming environments.
People also search for: dog tremors treatment · dog skin problems · Neospora caninum in dogs · herding dog health issues · rural dog parasite exposure
Abstract
In order to assess the seroprevalence of canine neosporosis 651 blood samples were collected from 586 household, 41 herding and 24 stray dogs, at small animal clinics in four large cities and other places of Hungary. Nineteen (2.9%) showed positivity in the IFAT with titres between 1:80 and 1:10240. Two dogs with high titres of antibodies to Neospora caninum had neuromuscular signs (imbalance, tremor) and a further one developed papulomatous, ulcerative and necrotizing dermatitis. There was no correlation between titers and age, sex, breed or keeping place. Although more male dogs had antibodies to N. caninum than females in case of both household and herding dogs, this association was not significant. No breed predisposition was observed. However, dogs with seroconversion were significantly more prevalent among rural (6%) than among urban dogs (1%), indicating that dogs in the countryside may have contact with or access to potentially infected offal from cattle and other intermediate hosts more frequently than those in large cities. Furthermore, significantly more herding dogs (29.3%) had antibodies to N. caninum than household dogs (1.2%), confirming the association between the occurrence of neosporosis and dog keeping on farms. The 12 dogs found seropositive among herding ones lived on 6 farms, on 5 of which seropositive cattle were also identified. This is the first report on the prevalence of N. caninum infection in dogs in Hungary.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16490318/