Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum infections in sheep from Federal District, central region of Brazil

Serum samples from 1028 sheep were collected from 32 herds within Federal District, in the central region of Brazil. The samples were examined by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) using sera diluted 1:64 and 1:50 as cut-off values for the detection of antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum, respectively. The observed prevalence for T. gondii infection was 38.22% (26.81%herds for T. gondii and the high proportion of positive herds for N. caninum (87.50%). The prevalence for T. gondii infection was significantly higher among males than in females. The present work is the first report on seroprevalence of T. gondii and N. caninum in sheep from Federal District and shows that infection by both parasites is widespread in the ovine population from this region.