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Comparative study for the detection of antibodies to Neospora caninum in milk and sera in dairy cattle in southern Romania

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 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

    Violeta Enachescu, Mariana Ionita & Ioan Liviu Mitrea

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  1. Violeta Enachescu
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  2. Mariana Ionita
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  3. Ioan Liviu Mitrea
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Correspondence to Mariana Ionita.

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Enachescu, V., Ionita, M. & Mitrea, I.L. Comparative study for the detection of antibodies to Neospora caninum in milk and sera in dairy cattle in southern Romania. Acta Parasit. 59, 5–10 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-014-0202-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-014-0202-x

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