Have a personal or library account? Click to login
First molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of Neospora caninum in dogs from Sulaymaniyah province, Iraq Cover

First molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of Neospora caninum in dogs from Sulaymaniyah province, Iraq

Open Access
|Jan 2026

References

  1. Adhami G., Dalimi A., Hoghooghi-Rad N., Fakour Sh.: Molecular and serological study of Neospora caninum infection among dogs and foxes in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, Iran. Arch Razi 2020, 75, 267–274, doi: 10.22092/ari.2018.120218.1186.
  2. Al-Amery A.M., Faraj A.A., Faleh I.B.: Seroprevalence and histopathological study of neosporosis in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) in Baghdad city, Iraq. J Anim Health Prod 2016, 4, 101–104, doi: 10.14737/journal.jahp/2016/4.3.101.104.
  3. Al-Qassab S.E., Reichel M.P., Ellis J.T.: On the biological and genetic diversity in Neospora caninum. Diversity 2010, 2, 411–438, doi: 10.3390/d2030411.
  4. Anvari D., Saberi R., Sharif M., Sarvi S., Hosseini S.A., Moosazadeh M., Daryani A.: Seroprevalence of Neospora caninum infection in dog population worldwide: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Parasitol 2020, 65, 273–290, doi: 10.2478/s11686-019-00163-4.
  5. Basso W., Herrmann D.C., Conraths F.J., Pantchev N., Globokar M.V., Schares G.: First isolation of Neospora caninum from the faeces of a dog from Portugal. Vet Parasitol 2009, 159, 162–166, doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2008.10.025.
  6. Calarco L., Barratt J., Ellis J.: Genome wide identification of mutational hotspots in the apicomplexan parasite Neospora caninum and the implications for virulence. Genome Biol Evol 2018, 10, 2417–2431, doi: 10.1093/gbe/evy188.
  7. Collantes-Fernández E., Gómez-Bautista M., Miró G., Álvarez-García G., Pereira-Bueno J., Frisuelos C., Ortega-Mora L.M.: Seroprevalence and risk factors associated with Neospora caninum infection in different dog populations in Spain. Vet Parasitol 2008, 152, 148–151, doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2007.12.005.
  8. Donahoe S.L., Lindsay S.A., Krockenberger M., Phalen D., Šlapeta J.: A review of neosporosis and pathologic findings of Neospora caninum infection in wildlife. Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl 2015, 4, 216–238, doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2015.04.002.
  9. Dubey J.P., Hemphill A., Calero-Bernal R., Schares G.: Neosporosis in animals. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2017, doi: 10.1201/9781315152561.
  10. Dubey J.P., Jenkins M.C., Ferreira L.R., Choudhary S., Verma S.K., Kwok O.C.H., Carstensen M.: Isolation of viable Neospora caninum from brains of wild gray wolves (Canis lupus). Vet Parasitol 2014, 201, 150–153, doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2013.12.032.
  11. Dubey J.P., Lindsay D.S.: A review of Neospora caninum and neosporosis. Vet Parasitol 1996, 67, 1–59, doi: 10.1016/s0304-4017(96)01035-7.
  12. Dubey J.P., Schares G.: Diagnosis of bovine neosporosis. Vet Parasitol 2006, 140, 1–34, doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2006.03.035.
  13. Dubey J.P., Schares G.: Neosporosis in animals – the last five years. Vet Parasitol 2011, 180, 90–108, doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.05.031.
  14. Dubey J.P., Schares G., Ortega-Mora L.M.: Epidemiology and control of neosporosis and Neospora caninum. Clin Microbiol Rev 2007, 20, 323–367, doi: 10.1128/CMR.00031-06.
  15. Düzlü Ö., İnci A., Yildirim A., Önder Z., Çiloğlu A.: Investigation of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites in peripheral blood samples of dogs by TaqMan probe based Real Time PCR. Ankara Univ Vet Fak Derg 2014, 61, 283–288, doi: 10.1501/Vetfak_0000002643.
  16. Dwinata M., Oka I.B., Agustina K.K., Damriyasa M.: Seroprevalence of Neospora caninum in local Bali dog. Vet World 2018, 11, 926–929, doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.926-929.
  17. Essa H.: Molecular identification of Neospora caninum in aborted sheep in Garmian Region/Kurdistan of Iraq. Biochem Mol Biol J 2023, 9, 41, doi: 10.36648/2471-8084.9.5.41.
  18. Fanokh M.A., Al-Rubaie H.M.A.: Neospora caninum detection by nested PCR in domestic and stray dogs in Baghdad City. Int J Health Sci 2022, 1842–1852, doi: 10.53730/ijhs.v6ns2.5399.
  19. Gharekhani J., Yakhchali M., Heidari R.: Molecular detection and phylogenetic analysis of Neospora caninum in various hosts from Iran. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 2022, 80, 101737, doi: 10.1016/j.cimid.2021.101737.
  20. Goździk., Wrzesień R., Wielgosz-Ostolska A., Bień J., Kozak-Ljunggren M., Cabaj W.: Prevalence of antibodies against Neospora caninum in dogs from urban areas in Central Poland. Parasitol Res 2011, 108, 991–996, doi: 10.1007/s00436-010-2143-0.
  21. Hariri M., Arefkhah N., Ghorbani F., Namavari M., Omidian M., Sarkari B.: Molecular and serological evaluation of Neospora caninum infection in dogs from a rural setting in Fars province, southern Iran. Iran J Parasitol 2021, 16, 146, doi: 10.18502/ijpa.v16i1.5534.
  22. Langoni H., Matteucci G., Medici B., Camossi L.G., Richini-Pereira V.B., Silva R.C. da: Detection and molecular analysis of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum from dogs with neurological disorders. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop 2012, 45, 365–368, doi: 10.1590/s0037-86822012000300016.
  23. MacLeod A.: Chapter 9, Minisatellites and MVR-PCR for the individual identification of 147 parasite isolates. In: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol 270, Parasite Genomics Protocols, edited by S.E. Melville, Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, USA, 2004, pp. 187–203, doi: 10.1385/1-59259-793-9:187.
  24. Mallah M.O., Dawood K.A., Alrodhan M.A.: First isolation of Neospora caninum in dogs in Al-Muthana Province, Iraq. AL-Muthanna J Pure Sci 2012, 1, 217–227.
  25. Motamedi A., Keihani P., Momtaz H.: Molecular detection of Neospora caninum in infected dogs of Isfahan, Iran. J Zoon Dis 2020, 4, 35–42, doi: 10.22034/JZD.2020.10633.
  26. Nishimura M., Tanaka S., Ihara F., Muroi Y., Yamagishi J., Furuoka H., Suzuki Y., Nishikawa Y.: Transcriptome and histopathological changes in mouse brain infected with Neospora caninum. Sci Rep 2015, 5, 7936–7952, doi: 10.1038/srep07936.
  27. Orlandi P.A., Lampel K.A.: Extraction-free filter-based template preparation for rapid and sensitive PCR detection of pathogenic parasitic protozoa. J Clin Microbiol 2000, 38, 2271–2277, doi: 10.1128/JCM.38.6.2271-2277.2000.
  28. Pouramini A., Jamshidi Sh., Shayan P., Ebrahimzadeh E., Namavari M., Shirian S.: Molecular and serological detection of Neospora caninum in multiple tissues and CSF in asymptomatic infected stray dogs in Tehran, Iran. Iran J Vet Med 2016, 11, 105–112, doi: 10.22059/IJVM.2017.61602.
  29. Ramaprasad A., Mourier T., Naeem R., Malas T.B., Moussa E., Panigrahi A., Pain A.: Comprehensive evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii VEG and Neospora caninum LIV genomes with tachyzoite stage transcriptome and proteome defines novel transcript features. PLOS One 2015, 10, e0124473, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124473.
  30. Regidor-Cerrillo J., Pedraza-Díaz S., Gómez-Bautista M., Ortega-Mora L.M.: Multilocus microsatellite analysis reveals extensive genetic diversity in Neospora caninum. J Parasitol 2006, 92, 517–524, doi: 10.1645/GE-713R.1.
  31. Reichel M.P., Ellis J.T., Dubey J.P.: Neosporosis and hammondiosis in dogs. J Small Anim Pract 2007, 48, 308–312, doi: 10.1111/j.1748-5827.2006.00236.x.
  32. Tamura K., Stecher G., Kumar S.: MEGA11: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 11. Mol Biol Evol 2021, 38, 3022–3027, doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab120.
  33. Wang S., Yao Z., Zhang N., Wang D., Ma J., Liu S., Zheng B., Zhang B., Liu K., Zhang H.: Serological study of Neospora caninum infection in dogs in central China. Parasite 2016, 23, 1–5, doi: 10.1051/parasite/2016025.
  34. Yamage M., Flechtner O., Gottstein B.: Neospora caninum: specific oligonucleotide primers for the detection of brain “cyst” DNA of experimentally infected nude mice by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). J Parasitol 1996, 82, 272–279, doi: 10.2307/3284160.
  35. Yilmaz A.B., Göz Y., Kilinç Ö.O., Denizhan V.: Molecular detection of Neospora caninum from naturally infected dogs in Van province, east Turkey. Ind J Anim Res 2020, 54, 1034–1038, doi: 10.18805/ijar.B-1051.
  36. Zanet S., Poncina M., Ferroglio E.: Congenital transmission of Neospora caninum in wild ungulates and foxes. Front Vet Sci 2023, 10, 1109986, doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1109986.
Language: English
Submitted on: May 7, 2025
|
Accepted on: Jan 8, 2026
|
Published on: Jan 13, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2026 Aram Ahmad Mohammed, Taib Ahmed Hama Soor, published by National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT