Seroprevalence and first multilocus microsatellite genotyping of Neospora caninum in dairy cattle in Henan, central China

Abstract Neospora caninum is one of the important causes of abortion in cattle worldwide, and losses due to neosporosis to the cattle industry are considerable. However, the knowledge of genetic characterization of this parasite is limited. The aim of the present study is to determine the prevalence and genetic characterization of N. caninum from dairy cows in Henan Province, central China. A total of 510 blood samples and 7 aborted fetuses were collected from 8 dairy farms in Henan Province. Serum antibodies to N. caninum were examined by ELISA using a recombinant tNcSRS2 protein as the coating antigen. The overall seroprevalence of N. caninum in dairy cows was 41.2% (210/510). The seropositivity rate of N. caninum in aborting cows (49.3%) was statistically significant higher than that (29.3%) in non-aborting cows ( p   0.05) with an odds ratio of 2.44 (95% CI, 1.61–3.41). Statistical association was also found between farm type and the seropositivity rate of N. caninum infection in cows ( p   0.01).  N. caninum DNA was detected from 6 of 396 blood samples (1.5%) and 4 of 7 aborted fetuses by nested PCR based on NC5 gene, and the 10  N. caninum positive DNA samples were further analyzed by multilocus microsatellite (MS) genotyping for MS4, MS5, MS6A, MS7, MS8, MS10, and MS12. Only 2 samples were successfully genotyped at all genetic loci, and two unique profiles including two novel allelic patterns were identified. To our knowledge, this study is the first report of genetic characterization of N. caninum isolates from naturally infected dairy cows based on multilocus microsatellites (more than 2 loci) in China.