Unusual presentation of neosporosis in a neonatal puppy from a litter of bulldogs

• Published in: Australian veterinary journal Vol. 94; no. 11; pp. 411 - 414
• Main Authors: McAllister, MM, Funnell, O, Donahoe, SL, Šlapeta, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 01-11-2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Coccidiosis - parasitology; Coccidiosis - veterinary; congenital disease; Dog Diseases - parasitology; Dogs; Female; Inflammation - parasitology; Inflammation - veterinary; Male; multisystemic infection; Myocarditis - parasitology; Myocarditis - veterinary; Neospora - isolation & purification; Neospora caninum; Pulmonary Edema - parasitology; Pulmonary Edema - veterinary; dogs; congenital disease; multisystemic infection; Neospora caninum
• ISSN: 0005-0423; 1751-0813
• DOI: 10.1111/avj.12516

Case report
A 17‐day‐old Bulldog puppy died soon after presentation for weakness and tachypnoea. Gross lesions included diffuse pulmonary oedema and a region of myocardial pallor that resembled an infarct. Inflammation was observed histopathologically in many organs, with numerous clusters of intracellular protozoa that stained positively using Neospora caninum immunohistochemistry. Myocarditis was severe and had associated necrosis of individual myocytes, but the tissue was not infarcted. The bitch had an antibody titre of 1 : 1600 for N. caninum. All six littermates were sold and reported to be healthy at 6 months of age.
Conclusion
Unusual aspects of this case include the occurrence of clinical disease in only 1 of 7 neonatal puppies, widespread dissemination of the organism in multiple tissues, and regional pallor associated with myocarditis that gave a false gross appearance of infarction. This report also adds Bulldogs to the list of dog breeds shown to be susceptible to clinical neosporosis.