Seroprevalence of Neospora caninum Infection in Sheep and Goats in Shanxi Province, North China

Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite with a broad geographical distribution and a complex life cycle. It can cause infectious abortions in a variety of animals in the major livestock-producing nations, resulting in huge economic losses to the livestock industry. Shanxi Province in north China is one of China’s important livestock-producing provinces, but the data on the prevalence of N. caninum in sheep and goats in this province was not available prior to the present investigation. To fulfill this gap in our knowledge, serum samples were collected from 504 sheep and 300 goats across 11 cities representing three distinct geographical regions of Shanxi Province. A commercially available indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) kit was used to determine the N. caninum prevalence by detecting N. caninum-specific IgG antibodies. Results showed that a total of 24 sheep (4.8%; 95% CI: 2.9–6.6) and 8 goat samples (2.7%; 95% CI: 0.8–4.5) tested positive for N. caninum antibodies. Geographical distribution was identified as the predominant risk factor influencing N. caninum infection in sheep and goats in Shanxi Province, with seroprevalence of N. caninum ranging from 0% to 16.7% across different sampling sites. This study reports the seroprevalence of N. caninum infection in sheep and goats in Shanxi Province for the first time, providing baseline data for the prevention and control of N. caninum infection in this northern province of China.