An abortion storm in dairy cattle associated with neosporosis in southern Brazil

Between December 2016 and April 2017, a spate of abortions occurred in a closed dairy herd from the central eastern region of Paraná, Brazil, in which 75 cows aborted. To identify its cause, organ fragments were collected from an aborted fetus for histopathology, and the blood samples from a stillborn, 4 aborted fetuses, and 9 farm dogs for indirect fluorescent antibody technique (IFAT). These tests found multifocal non-suppurative encephalitis, periportal hepatitis, and multifocal lymphoplasmacytic myocarditis, and detected anti-Neospora antibodies in all aborted fetuses, and in 5 of the 9 dogs. DNA of Neospora caninum was detected in the brain tissue of an aborted fetus. Blood samples of 340 cows and 146 heifers showed 33.5% and 30.8% seropositivity, respectively. In this closed herd, the parasite was probably introduced by infected domesticated or wild carnivores inhabiting the farm, through the infective oocysts present in their stool.