Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in captive elephants (Elephaus maximus indicus) in Kanchanaburi province

Abstract

Although neosporosis has long been detected in several wildlife species from different parts of the world, until now there has been no report of Neospora caninum infection in elephants in any country of the world. Serum samples of 115 captive elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) from the westernmost province of Kanchanaburi, Thailand were investigated for antibodies to N. caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. Antibodies of N. caninum were detected by the competitive ELISA (cELISA) test and T. gondii by the Latex agglutination (LAT) test. The prevalence of T. gondii antibodies was 13.04% (15/115), while anti-N. caninum was 33.04% (38/115). Only 7/115 (6.09%) were positive for both parasites. Our study showed a higher seroprevalence for N. caninum in elephants than the prevalence of N. caninum-infection in dairy cattle in Thailand from prior studies.