Naturally-occurring Neospora caninum infection in an adult sheep and her twin fetuses

Neospora caninum tissue cysts were found in the brains of surgically delivered twin fetuses at 119 days of gestation. In the brains of both fetuses, there was an inflammatory reaction involving perivascular cuffings of mononuclear cells, glial nodules. The dam of these fetuses died because of metritis. Histopathological examination of the ewe revealed N. caninum tissue cysts and focal gliosis with mononuclear cell cuffings. A N. caninum-specific DNA fragment was detected in a brain homogenate of the ewe by the polymerase chain reaction method. This is the first report of N. caninum infection in twin ovine fetuses and in an adult sheep.