Neosporosis

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This page quotes a published document. Everything below in quotation marks is copied word for word from https://capcvet.org/guidelines/neosporosis/, published by CAPC and retrieved on 2026-09-16. The quotations are excerpts; the document itself is linked and is the authority. Nothing has been reworded.

This page quotes the Companion Animal Parasite Council guideline for Neosporosis, section by section: the opening sentences of 6 sections, copied without change and linked to the guideline, which was retrieved on 2026-09-16. The guideline itself is the authority and carries the full text.

The guideline

Companion Animal Parasite Council, Neosporosis, at https://capcvet.org/guidelines/neosporosis/. Retrieved 2026-09-16. Each heading below is the guideline’s own, and the quotation under it is how that section begins. The full section, and the species tabs where the guideline gives them, are on the linked page.

Species

Neospora caninum Neosporosis is an important neuromuscular disease of domestic dogs world-wide. The causative parasite, Neospora caninum , cycles between canine definitive hosts and herbivore intermediate hosts, most notably cattle, and is the leading cause of bovine abortion and stillbirth and neuromuscular disorder in dogs.

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Disease

Clinical neosporosis is a result of the proliferation of tachyzoites within tissues leading to inflammation, granulomata formation, and necrosis. Tachyzoites are present within many tissues and cells (e.g., neurons, macrophages, myocytes, hepatocytes), but clinical signs are most often neuromuscular and can include gait changes, weight loss, lethargy, and stiffness.

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Prevalence

Neosporosis is found world-wide; serologic prevalence in domestic dogs ranges from 0 – 100% depending on the country. In the United States, 7% of pet dogs tested from 35 states (n=1,077) were seropositive in a 2007 study.

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Diagnosis

Diagnosis is most often presumptive based on patient history, clinical signs, and positive serology (IgM or IgG), or PCR. Oocysts can also be recovered on centrifugal fecal flotation.

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Treatment

There is no approved or curative treatment for canine neosporosis. Arrestment of clinical disease is best achieved when treatment is initiated before the occurrence of contracture or paralysis.

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Public Health Considerations

Neospora caninum is not considered zoonotic. Seropositive humans have been documented, but no clinical cases have been identified, and the parasite has not been isolated from a human host.

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Sources

  • capc-neosporosisCAPC · retrieved 2026-09-16
    Clinical neosporosis is a result of the proliferation of tachyzoites within tissues leading to inflammation, granulomata formation, and necrosis. Tachyzoites are present within many tissues (Disease)

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