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Antibody seropositivity for Neospora caninum in Blanco Orejinegro cattle in Colombia and factors associated with the infection

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Abstract

Neosporosis is a parasitic disease that causes abortions and economic losses in bovine production systems, but no studies have been found concerning its effect on the Creole cattle breed, Blanco Orejinegro (BON). The aim of this research was to establish the serological status of Colombian BON cattle against Neospora caninum and to determine the factors associated with seropositivity. Blood samples were taken from 363 animals from 13 herds in six states of Colombia, and analyzed by indirect ELISA using a commercial test. Information on sex, herd, generation group, and state was recorded. A survey was carried out with 26 questions related to productive, reproductive, and health factors per herd. A logistic regression analysis was performed and the ORs for significantly associated variables were estimated using the R software. General seropositivity of 73.5% (95% CI 68.6–77.9%) was obtained, and sex, age group, and herd were the variables significantly associated with seropositivity (p < 0.05). For the sex variable, seroprevalence levels of 79.6% (95% CI 74.3–84.1%) were recorded for females and 54.5% (95% CI 43.6–65.1%) for males. Herd seroprevalence varied between 58.3 and 95.8%, and the last generation showed the lowest positivity (51.2%, 95% CI 42.1–60.2%). The inadequate disposal of fetuses was a risk factor, while carrying out serological tests to new animals that enter the herd, the use of new gloves and palpation utensils for each animal, supplementation, and stabling were stated as protective factors. No effect of positivity was found in the last calving interval. The implementation of bovine neosporosis control programs to support breeding and conservation programs of the BON breed in Colombia is recommended.

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Data Availability

The data sets generated or analyzed during the current study, or both, are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The code generated during this study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

To the owners of the BON cattle herds that participated in this study for providing the information to carry out this analysis and allowing the sampling of their animals.

Funding

This work was financed by Minciencias (contract FP44842-015–2018), and co-financed and executed by Universidad Nacional de Colombia sede Medellin and Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación Biomolecular Y Pecuaria (BIOPEC), Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira Colombia, Pereira, Colombia

    Juan Carlos González Corrales

  2. Grupo de Investigación Biodiversidad Y Genética Molecular (BIOGEM), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Luis Gabriel González-Herrera, Albeiro López-Herrera & Juan Carlos Rincón Florez

  3. Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia—sede Medellín, Medellín, Colombia

    Luis Gabriel González-Herrera & Albeiro López-Herrera

  4. Departamento de Ciencia Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia—sede Palmira, Palmira, Colombia

    Juan Carlos Rincón Florez

Authors
  1. Juan Carlos González Corrales
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  2. Luis Gabriel González-Herrera
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  3. Albeiro López-Herrera
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  4. Juan Carlos Rincón Florez
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by J.C.G.C., and the other authors made their contributions to later versions of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Carlos González Corrales.

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Ethics approval

This work had the endorsement of the ethics committee of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín campus, through CICUA 005 of 2016.

Consent to participate

The owners of the 13 herds participating in the project signed a consent for their animals to be bled and to participate in the survey designed to identify risk factors associated with seropositivity to Neospora caninum.

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Not applicable.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Corrales, J.C.G., González-Herrera, L.G., López-Herrera, A. et al. Antibody seropositivity for Neospora caninum in Blanco Orejinegro cattle in Colombia and factors associated with the infection. Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 391 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-02827-8

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