
Scientists Finger Accomplice of Calf-Killing ParasiteBy Jan Suszkiw August
14, 1998Science is gaining ground in the battle against Neospora caninum, a
single-celled parasite of cattle that causes pregnant cows to abort their
fetuses. A research team led by University of
Wyoming scientist Milton McAllister, and including scientists at USDA's
Agricultural Research Service and
Virginia Tech, has shown for the first time
that dogs are a "definitive host" of Neospora. This describes
an animal in which a parasite can complete its life cycle. The research was funded by a grant from USDA's National Research Initiative. The team draws its conclusion from experiments in which it recovered Neosporafrom the tissues of a special lab strain of mice that had been inoculated with
oocysts (spore structures) collected from the feces of 8-week old beagles. The
dogs passed the oocysts after being fed the tissues of a separate group of mice
infected with Neospora from an aborted bovine fetus. The study, published today in the International Journal for Parasitology(Volume 28:1473- 1478, 1998) suggests that farmers should try to keep pet dogs
or strays from defecating in dairy feedlots or choice pasture. Fencing, for
example, could help prevent a pregnant cow from ingesting feces-contaminated
feed and then transmitting the parasite to her fetus via the placenta. In California, the nation's leading dairy producer, Neospora is the
chief culprit behind calf abortions costing $35 million annually in losses. It
also inflicts heavy cattle losses in New Zealand, Australia, and The
Netherlands. The parasite also plagues other ruminant livestock like goats,
typically attacking their central nervous system. In young dogs, such attacks
can cause death or paralysis. N. caninum's discovery in 1988 and scientific naming stemmed from
studies led by J.P.
Dubey, a microbiologist at ARS'
Parasite Biology and
Epidemiology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. The journal study's authors are Milton McAllister, Department of Veterinary
Sciences, UW, Laramie; J.P. Dubey, ARS; David Lindsay, Virginia-Maryland
Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; William
Jolley, Rebecca Wills, and Angela McGuire all at UW. Scientific Contact: J.P. Dubey, USDA-ARS Parasite Biology and
Epidemiology Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. (301) 504-8300, fax (301) 504-6273,
[email protected]. Milton McAllister and William Jolley, Department of Veterinary Sciences,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, (307) 742-6638, fax (307) 721-2051,
[email protected],
[email protected]. David Lindsay, Virginia
Tech, Blacksburg, (540) 231-6302, fax (540) 231-3426, [email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |