Agreement in detection of antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in blood and milk of cattle by indirect fluorescent antibody test

This study aimed to evaluate: the applicability search for anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in cattle milk samples by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), and their concordance with detection of the same antibodies in blood serum samples, simultaneously collected from the same cows. A total of 177 cows in the beginning of lactation provided corresponding samples of blood serum and milk. To T. gondii, milk diagnosis demonstrated good conformity and low sensitivity in comparison with blood samples whose serum antibody titer ranged >= 64 (cut-off point). As for N. caninum it was obtained optimum conformity between the detection of blood serum antibodies, with titer ranging >= 50 (diagnose-aimed cut-off point) and milk, with sensitivity reaching 80.7% and 100% specificity. However, sensitivity and specificity reached 100% for cows whose antibodies titers in blood serum ranged >= 100. The study was able to demonstrate that IFAT is not indicate to diagnose toxoplasmosis in cattle milk samples due to the high percentage of cows that showed seropositivity to anti-T. gondii antibodies at the 1:64 blood serum dilution, in whose blood samples there was no such antibody detection. On the other hand, IFAT is a feasible test for diagnosing cattle neosporosis, especially when cut-off point is a serum antibody titer >= 100. It can be recommended as part of herd health programs and epidemiologic studies due to sampling practicality.