Investigations on the occurrence of tapeworm infections in German horse populations with comparison of different antibod
- PDF / 1,009,423 Bytes
- 10 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 70 Downloads / 180 Views
arasites & Vectors Open Access
RESEARCH
Investigations on the occurrence of tapeworm infections in German horse populations with comparison of different antibody detection methods based on saliva and serum samples Laura Jürgenschellert1, Jürgen Krücken1, Corrine J. Austin2, Kirsty L. Lightbody2, Eric Bousquet3 and Georg von Samson‑Himmelstjerna1*
Abstract Background: Effective and sustainable worm control in horses would benefit from detailed information about the current regional occurrence of tapeworms. Different diagnostic methods are currently available to detect Anoplocephala spp. infections in horses. However, the format as well as the sensitivity and specificity of the methods vary considerably. Methods: A coprological, serological and questionnaire study was conducted to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of tapeworm infections on 48 horse farms in the region of Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany. In total, faecal samples of 484 horses were analysed using the double centrifugation/combined sedimentation-flotation and miniFLOTAC. Serum (n = 481) and saliva (n = 365) samples were analysed by ELISAs to determine antibody levels against Anoplocephala spp. 12/13 kDa excretory/secretory (E/S) antigens. Results: Cestode eggs were detected in 0.6% of faecal samples (farm prevalence 6.3%) without differences between the two methods. In contrast, antibodies against Anoplocephala spp. were detected in 16.2% (farm prevalence 52.1%) and in 29.5% (farm prevalence 75.7%) of the serum and saliva samples, respectively. Both ELISA based methods for detection of tapeworms reported a greater number of infected animals requiring treatment than were positively identified by coproscopy. Logistic regression analysis identified permanent pasture access, large pastures and regular pasture changes and high strongyle egg counts as risk factors for positive serum antibody responses to Anoplocephala spp. while last treatment with praziquantel was protective. Other protective factors were the presence of foals and high numbers of horses on the farm. Daily removal of faeces from the pasture and horse age did not have a significant effect. Conclusions: The findings of the present serological investigation indicate that tapeworm prevalence in Berlin/ Brandenburg horse farms is much higher than would be anticipated by using conventional/coproscopic analy‑ ses. Moreover, the majority of tapeworm-positive horses had not received a cestocidal drug at their last treatment.
*Correspondence: samson.georg@fu‑berlin.de 1 Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert‑von‑Ostertag‑Str. 7‑13, Berlin 14163, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Crea
Data Loading...
