Neospora caninum: Biological Relationship with Toxoplasma gondii and its Potential as Zoonosis

Objective. To carry out a systematic review of the literature on the zoonotic potential of Neospora caninum taking into account its biological relationship with Toxoplasma gondii. Materials and methods. A systematic review was carried out, using two databases for the collection of information (Science direct and Scielo), a search engine (Google Scholar) and the National University of Colombia Repository, all documents were organized through the bibliographic manager Mendeley for proper review. Key words like Neosporosis, Neospora caninum, “Toxoplasmosis”, “Toxoplasma gondii”, “Neospora humans”, “Neospora human infection”, “Neospora zoonotic” were used. A total of 8 articles were selected that look for the infection in humans. Results. Eight documents concerning the subject of Neospora in humans were used, whereas these reports show evidence of seropositivity in human samples of anti-N. caninum no studies were found that look for the isolation of the parasite in human tissues (by molecular or in vitro culture). Conclusions. According to the results of these studies, it is not ruled out that the existence of cross-reactions with T. gondii and therefore it should not be ruled out that Neosporosis can behave as a zoonosis. In this regard, more research is required to demonstrate exposure, associated clinical signs, or pathologies related to this infection.