Detection of antibodies against Neospora caninum in canines in the urban and rural area of Cumaral, Meta, Colombia

Objective. To estimate the seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in canines in the urban and rural area of Cumaral, Meta and determine some risk factors associated with seropositivity. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 222 dogs (112 dogs from the urban area and 110 dogs from the rural area), the sample size was calculated using the program Epidat v. 3.1. The sera were analyzed using the Indirect Immunofluorescence technique for IgG with a commercial kit. Chi-square frequency tests were performed using SPSS v. 25.0. Results. The general seroprevalence was 36.9% (95% CI: 30.9-43.5%). The seropositivity between the groups was: urban (38.4%) and rural (35.5%) (p>0.05), males (36.9%) and females (36.9%) (p>0.05); in puppies (32.7%), young dogs (40.0%) and adults (37.4%) (p>0.05), in contact with livestock farms (40.7%) and without contact (35.2 %) (p>0.05). Conclusions. The seroprevalence observed was high in the two populations analyzed and suggests that the canines have been in contact with the parasite, possibly due to different sources of infection that need to be studied later