Maternal and foetal immune responses of cattle following an experimental challenge with Neospora caninum at day 70 of gestation.

The immune responses of pregnant cattle and their foetuses were examined following inoculation on day 70 of gestation either intravenously (iv) (group 1) or subcutaneously (sc) (group 2) with live NC1 strain tachyzoites or with Vero cells (control) (group 3). Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) responses to Neospora antigen and foetal viability were assessed throughout the experiment. Two animals from each group were sacrificed at 14, 28, 42 and 56 days post inoculation (pi).

Three serial passages of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in sheep do not significantly affect discriminatory test results.

During the 1980s, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-contaminated meat and bonemeal were probably fed to sheep, raising concerns that BSE may have been transmitted to sheep in the UK. The human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, arose during the BSE epidemic, and oral exposure of humans to BSE-infected tissues has been implicated in its aetiology. The concern is that sheep BSE could provide another source of BSE exposure to humans via sheep products.

The host-parasite relationship in bovine neosporosis.

Infection with the protozoan parasite Neospora caninum is thought to be a major cause of reproductive failure in cattle worldwide. Cattle infected with the parasite are three to seven times more likely to abort compared to uninfected cattle. The parasite may be transmitted to cattle through the ingestion of oocysts that are shed in the faeces of acutely infected dogs (definitive host of N.

Bacteriology and somatic cell counts in milk samples from ewes on a Scottish farm.

Milk samples from 50 sheep on a single Scottish research farm were collected weekly for 10 wk postpartum. Samples were analyzed for somatic cell counts (SCC) each week and bacteriologic culture was done for 7 of the 10 wk. A total of 492 udder half samples were cultured, of which 467 had corresponding cell count data.