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. 1992 Jun 1;33(2):175–184. doi: 10.1186/BF03547324

Toxoplasmosis and Border Disease in 54 Swedish Sheep Flocks

Seroprevalence and Incidence during one Gestation Period

Toxoplasmas och border disease hos får i Sverige: Seroprevalens och incidens under en dräktighets-period.

Anna Lundén 1,✉, Ulla Carlsson 1, Katarina Näslund 1
PMCID: PMC8117858  PMID: 1503001

Abstract

Serum samples from 704 animals from 54 Swedish sheep flocks were analysed by ELISA twice during 1 breeding season for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and border disease virus (BDV). An ELISA, originally developed for the detection of antibodies to bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in cattle, was assessed on sheep sera and the results were compared with those obtained in a virus neutralization test. The correlation between the 2 assays proved good.

Before breeding, 132 (19%) sheep in 42 flocks had antibodies to T. gondii and 7 (1%) sheep in 5 flocks were seropositive to BDV. During the observation period 4 sheep seroconverted to T. gondii and 13 to BDV, giving an incidence rate of 0.7% and 1.9% respectively. No clinical signs due to the infections were observed. In 5 flocks the frequency of barrenness, abortion or stillbirths exceeded 5%, 5% and 8%, respectively, but there was no evidence that this was attributable to the agents studied. The proportion of BDV-positive flocks was significantly higher among flocks that had been in contact with cattle than among those that had not.

Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, BDV, BVDV, ELISA, epidemiology, reproductive failure

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