Serology for Neosporosis, Q fever and Brucellosis to assess the cause of abortion in two dairy cattle herds in Ecuador

Abstract Background Determining the infectious cause of abortion in cattle is difficult. This case-control study was set up to investigate the infectious causes of abortion by determining the seroprevalence of three reproductive pathogens in dairy cattle in Ecuador and their association with abortion: Brucella abortus, Neospora caninum and Coxiella burnetii. Results Ninety-five blood samples were obtained from cows that had experienced a mid- or late gestation abortion of their first calf and seventy-seven samples from a control group of cows with the same age that did not experience abortion problems. No antibodies were detected for B. abortus in any of the serum samples, but a high seroprevalence for both C. burnetii (52.9%) and N. caninum infection (21.5%) was found in group of cows. The seroprevalence of N. caninum infection in cattle that had experienced abortions was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the seroprevalence in the control cows on one of the cattle farms, but no association between abortion and seropositivity for C. burnetii was found. Conclusion We conclude that Neosporosis plays an important role in the epidemiology of abortion on one cattle farm, but that Q fever is apparently not an important cause for abortion in this setting.