Molecular diagnosis of Neospora caninum in aborted bovine fetus from Uruguay

Abstract

The diagnosis of Neospora caninum in Uruguay is carried out by histopathological studies of aborted fetuses, complementing this information with serology test and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC) results. The aim of this study was to standardize a protocol of Polimerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect of N. caninum in organs of spontaneously aborted bovine fetus. A retrospective study was conducted using frozen samples from a period between 2013 and 2016, with positive or negative diagnosis of N. caninum. Results showed that 26 of 31 samples positives for N. caninum by routine techniques were positive by PCR, demonstrating a high sensitivity of the PCR. All negative samples by Histopathology (n=20) were confirmed as negative by PCR. Cohen`s Kappa test indicated a very high agreement (81%, p<0.001) between PCR and Histopathology with serology test and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC) results. The high sensitivity, specificity and simplicity of PCR test suggest this technique as an alternative to IHC as a confirmatory technique in routine diagnosis.