Respiratory symptoms got you breathless? Try our equine respiratory PCR panel -- we test for 7 respiratory bacteria and viruses from 1 swab.

Neurological symptoms got you down? Try our equine neurological PCR panel -- we test for 5 neurological diseases from 1 CSF or tissue sample.

Diarrhea got you on the run? Try our equine GI / diarrhea PCR panel -- we test for 4 GI diseases from 1 fecal or swab sample.

Oh baby! Our equine breeding/abortion PCR panel tests for 5 diseases affecting breeding success from 1 swab or semen sample.

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For our international clients: Our DRY CARDS let you mail blood samples to Zoologix easily and cheaply from anywhere. Samples are small, light and stable at room temperature.

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Zoologix performs equine PCR tests for...

African horse sickness

Anaplasma phagocytophilum

Anoplocephala

Anoplocephaloides

Aspergillus

Babesia

Borna virus

Borrelia burgdorferi

Burkholderia mallei and pseudomallei

Clostridium difficile

Clostridium species

Contagious equine metritis (CEM)

Coronaviruses

Dengue

Dourine

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE)

E. coli O157:H7

E. coli panel

Equine adenoviruses

Equine arteritis virus (EAV)

Equine hepatitis virus

Equine herpesvirus
type 1

Equine herpesvirus
type 2

Equine herpesvirus
type 3

Equine herpesvirus
type 4

Equine herpesvirus
type 5

Equine infectious anemia (EIA)

Equine parvovirus

Equine piroplasmosis

Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM)

Equine rhinitis virus A

Equine rhinitis virus B

Giardia

Glanders

Helicobacter

Histoplasma

Horsepox virus

Influenza type A

Japanese encephalitis

Lawsonia intracellularis

Leptospirosis

Lyme disease

Melioidosis

Neospora caninum

Neospora hughesi

Piroplasmosis

Potomac horse fever

Rabies

Rhodococcus equi

Rotavirus

Sarcocystis neurona

St. Louis encephalitis

Strangles (Strep equi)

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Strongyles

Surra

Tapeworms

Taylorella equigenitalis

Theileria equi

Toxoplasma gondii

Trichomonas/
Tritrichomonas

Trypanosoma equiperdum

Trypanosoma evansi

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE)

Vesicular stomatitis

West Nile virus (WNV)

Western Equine Encephalitis (WEE)

Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Genetic tests for...

Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis


Neospora caninum PCR test for horses
equine assay data sheet

Neospora caninum

Test code:
X0011 - Ultrasensitive qualitative detection of Neospora caninum by real time polymerase chain reaction

X0011 is included in P0017 - equine protozoal myeloencephalitis panel and in P0014 - equine neurological panel.

 

Neospora caninum is a recently discovered, apicomplexan, coccidial protozoan that causes abortion in many mammals including cattle, goats, horses and sheep. Some evidence also indicates association of this organism with neonatal neurological and neuromuscular disease in mammals such as dogs, cattle, sheep and deer.

N. caninum-induced bovine abortion has been reported in many countries including the United States, Mexico, Canada, western Europe, Central and South America, Australia and Japan. N. caninum is a major cause of bovine abortion in USA. Prospective and retrospective studies show that 20-45% of bovine abortions in drylot dairies in California were attributable to neosporosis.

In adult cattle infected with this parasite, abortion seems to be the only clinical sign. Bovine fetuses from three months to nine months of gestational age can be infected with this parasite, with most cases occurring between the fifth and seventh month of gestation. Infected calves may be born clinically normal or with neurological signs such as weakness and ataxia.

In infected neonatal dogs, progressive hind limb paresis and paralysis are the most common clinical signs. Skin involvement has only been reported in older dogs. In infected adult horses encephalomyelitis, polyradiculoneuritis and myeloencephalitis can result.

The life cycle of this parasite consists of three stages known as tachyzoite, tissue cyst and oocyst. Tachyzoites are the rapidly multiplying form of the parasite that invades a variety of cells, producing the characteristic lesions of neosporosis in affected animals. The latent form is the tissue cyst, which contains bradyzoites and is found in peripheral and central nervous tissue.

Although other animals may be potential hosts of this parasite, only dogs can serve as both definitive (ie have tachyzoites in their tissues) and intermediate (ie shed oocysts in their feces) hosts of this parasite. When a definitive host ingests tissue cysts from infected intermediate host tissues, sexual development of this parasite takes place. This results in shedding of unsporulated oocysts in the feces. Sporulation occurs outside the host. Intermediate hosts such as cattle, dogs, sheep, goats, horses and deer may then become infected by ingesting food or water contaminated with the oocysts.

Neospora caninum infection is sometimes diagnosed by serology or by specific identification of parasites within tissue lesions using immunohistochemistry (IHC) techniques. However, these methods are not very sensitive and cannot detect some N. caninum infections. Molecular detection by polymerase chain reaction is the most specific, sensitive and rapid method to detect this parasite (Baszler et al., 1999).

Utilities:

  • Help confirm the disease causing agent
  • Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical diagnosis of N. caninum infection
  • Help ensure that herds and animal populations are free of N. caninum
  • Early prevention of spread of this parasite among a herd or population
  • Minimize personnel exposure to this parasite
  • Safety monitoring of biological products and vaccines that derive from animals

References:
Baszler, T.V., Gay, L.J., Long, M.T. and Mathison, B.A. (1999) Detection by PCR of Neospora caninum in Fetal Tissues from Spontaneous Bovine Abortions. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 4059-4064.

Specimen requirements: 0.2 ml feces, or rectal swab, or 0.2 ml whole blood in EDTA (purple top) tube, or 0.2 ml CSF, or 0.2 ml fresh, frozen or fixed brain, heart or aborted tissue.

Contact Zoologix if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.

For all specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain frozen in transit. See shipping instructions for more information.

Turnaround time: 2 business days

Methodology: Qualitative real time PCR

Normal range: Nondetected

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