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Neospora caninum causes severe economic losses in cattle in the humid pampa region of Argentina

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An Erratum to this article was published on 30 December 2014

Abstract

This work estimates the economic losses due to Neospora abortions in the humid pampa region of Argentina. The total dairy and beef cattle population at risk of abortion is 1,771,326 and 9,726,684 head, respectively. In dairy cattle, there was an 8 % risk of experiencing abortion due to a variety of causes, but 16.5 % of them were due to Neospora caninum. The economic losses were estimated at US$1,865 (range, 1,400–2,331) per abortion, which equates to a total loss of US$43,607,430 (range, 15,622,600–194,412,390) for the dairy industry at the humid pampa region of Argentina. In beef cattle, the overall risk of abortion was estimated to be 4.5 % for all pregnancies, whereas 6.7 % are specifically due to N. caninum, with an economic loss of US$440 (range, 150–730) per abortion. This amounts to an annual loss to the beef industry of US$12,903,440 (range, 1,130,700–42,070,630) in the same area. The results of this study show that Neospora infections and thus abortions cause severe economic impacts in the dairy and beef industries in the humid pampa region of Argentina, which is one the most important areas of cattle production in the world.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following veterinary practitioners: Drs J. Bartolomé, R. García Boisou and H. Lagomarsino for providing their data, which were very useful in this study. We also thank Mrs Virginia Frade for drawing the map and all lab technicians from INTA Balcarce for their unconditional assistance. This work was supported by special grants from INTA and MINCyT (PICT 2008-1880), Argentina.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors of this paper have a financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Dadin Moore

  2. School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA, 5371, Australia

    Michael Reichel

  3. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), 7620, Balcarce, Argentina

    Ernesto Spath & Carlos Campero

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  1. Dadin Moore
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  2. Michael Reichel
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  3. Ernesto Spath
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  4. Carlos Campero
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Correspondence to Dadin Moore.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11250-014-0744-9.

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Moore, D., Reichel, M., Spath, E. et al. Neospora caninum causes severe economic losses in cattle in the humid pampa region of Argentina. Trop Anim Health Prod 45, 1237–1241 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-013-0353-z

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