ABSTRACT
Clinically, neosporosis was found to be a primary disease of dogs versus canine toxoplasmosis often associated with tumors or canine distemper virus infection. Neospora parasites were found in the brain of 2 fetuses and in the kidney of 1 fetus. After the discovery of N. caninum in 1988, one of the questions asked was whether neosporosis is a new disease. The name N. caninum aroused considerable scientific controversy because the description was based on parasites in tissue sections, and many scientists felt that it should have been a species of Toxoplasma. Antibodies to T. gondii were not found in the sera of 5 dogs by the dye test but the dilution of the serum tested was not stated. After the discovery of neosporosis in cattle in 1989, JPD contacted veterinary pathology laboratories in several countries seeking tissues from aborted bovine fetuses for retrospective studies; none was available earlier than 1980.
