Natural infection of a horse with Fascioloides magna

A 25-year-old Quarterhorse mare was euthanized for a variety of medical reasons. At necropsy, 7 liver flukes, identified as Fascioloides magna, were recovered from the liver. This is the first report of F. magna in a horse.

Parasites and parasite stages of free-ranging wild lions (Panthera leo) of northern Tanzania

Fecal samples from 33 lions (Panthera leo) in Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area in northern Tanzania contained 19 different parasites, 12 of which, including Aelurostrongylus sp., a species of Acanthocephala, a species of Anoplocephalidae, Capillaria sp., Demodex sp., Eimeria sp., Habronema sp., Isospora felis, Isospora rivolta, one species of Isospora that was previously undescribed from lions, one species of Trematoda that was previously undescribed from lions, and Trichuris sp., were new reports for lions. Seven other species had been previously reported from lions.

Comparison of the persistent efficacy of the injectable and pour-on formulations of doramectin against artificially-induced infection with Dictyocaulus viviparus in cattle

The persistent efficacy of the injectable and topical formulations of doramectin was compared against experimental challenges with infective larvae of Dictyocaulus viviparus in two separate studies. Four groups of 10 randomly-assigned calves, negative for lungworm larvae by the Baermann technique, were used in each study. Calves were treated subcutaneously in the midline of the neck or poured down the midline of the back with saline (1 ml/50 kg. injection: 1 ml/10 kg. pour-on) on Day 0 or doramectin (200 microg/kg = 1 ml/50 kg. injection: 500 microg/kg = 1 ml/10 kg. pour-on) on Day 0, 7, or 14. Two additional calves from the same pool of animals were randomly assigned as larval-viability monitors and received no treatment. Calves were inoculated daily with a gavage of approximately 100 larvae of D. viviparus from days 35 to 49 for the injectable study and days 28 to 42 for the pour-on study. The two larval viability monitor calves received approximately 3000 infective larvae in the same manner on Day 49 or 42 for the injectable and pour-on studies, respectively. Equal numbers of calves from each treatment group as well as the larval viability monitor calves were necropsied on days 14 and 15 after the last lungworm inoculation to enumerate the worm burden. The worms recovered were quantified and identified. For each study, geometric mean worm recoveries for each treatment group were back transformed from the natural log-transformed data (worm count +1) and were used to estimate percentage reduction. Doramectin injectable solution was 100.0% efficacious against lungworms for up to 49 days and the pour-on formulation was 100.0%, 93.1% and 81.5% effective in reducing lungworm infection resulting from challenge infection for up to 28, 35, and 42 days post-treatment, respectively.

The role of parasite epidemiology in the management of grazing cattle

Epidemiology of ruminant helminths is the foundation on which strategic parasite control programmes are designed. Without this information one is not able to use anthelmintics to provide the optimal benefits for controlling both the adult worm and the pasture larval populations. The absence of strategic programmes generally results in using anthelmintics at the convenience of the producer, which may have little if any impact on parasite populations. The design of a strategic parasite control programme requires a knowledge of the dynamics of egg shedding from the host and the resulting pasture larval populations. It is important to know if larvae are available when animals are turned out onto pasture, when larval populations reach their maximal numbers and when they are induced to become hypobiotic. The goal is to keep pasture larval populations as low as possible. The use of pasture rotation adds another dimension to control programmes. The longer a pasture is allowed to remain fallow, the lower the pasture larval burden will be when it is grazed next. However, when we use intensive rotational grazing, animals may return to the pasture about 28 days later, when the larvae resulting from the eggs shed in the previous grazing are infective. This practice forces cattle to eat all of the forage available, including the grass closest to the faecal pat, where most of the infective larvae are available. If we treated cattle before turning them onto a clean rotationally grazed pasture, we should be able to control parasitism. Using a long-acting anthelmintic should enhance helminth control in rotationally grazed pastures and actually help to clean the pastures. Another grazing management practice is to alternately graze different species. This programme with the strategic use of anthelmintics should reduce parasitism in both host species.

Exogenous stages of Eimeria bemricki n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the great gray owl, Strix nebulosa (Foster)

Exogenous stages of a new species of Eimeria are described from feces of a captive great gray owl, Strix nebulosa, held at the Gabbert Raptor Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. Oocysts (n = 100) of Eimeria bemricki are spherical to subspherical, 19.2 x 19.0 (21.5-16.0 x 21.0-16.0) microm, with ovoidal sporocysts (n = 100), 10.0 x 6.5 (12.0-7.0 x 7.0-5.5) microm and sporozoites (n = 20), 8.2 x 3.2 (6.8-10.1 x 2.5-3.9) microm. Stieda bodies, substieda bodies, polar bodies, and sporocyst residua are present, but micropyle, oocyst residuum, and parastieda bodies are absent. Three refractile bodies are contained in each sporozoite.

Prevalence of hematozoans in lions (Panthera leo) and cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Lions (Panthera leo) and cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) from the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, Tanzania were examined for the presence of blood protozoans. Twenty-eight percent of the lions were infected with Trypanosoma sp. and the prevalence of trypanosome infection varied significantly between adjacent habitats. All of the animals were infected with Hepatozoon sp. and a Theileria sp.-like piroplasm that was morphologically indistinguishable from Theileria felis.

Homocytotropic response of guinea-pigs to antigen extracts from formalized and unformalized Parascaris equorum

A homocytotropic anaphylactic response is described in guinea-pigs sensitized with antigen from Parascaris equorum. This antigen was not sensitive to prolonged storage in formalin. Some adult ascarid extracts prepared from worms that had been stored for 14 years in 10 per cent formalin before use, retained their ability to produce an allergenic response. The antisera withstood heat inactivation at 56 degrees for up to 7 h or treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol and were still capable of eliciting a skin response. The skin response persisted for 96 h after sensitization. The serum of animals sensitized with a single dose of P. equorum antigen remained capable of producing a positive passive cutaneous anaphylactic response up to 245 days after the sensitizing dose. It appears, from the results obtained, that this antibody resembles IgG1, rather than IgE.

Homocytotropic response to guinea-pigs to antigen extracts from formalized and unformalized Parascaris equorum

A homocytotropic anaphylactic response is described in guinea-pigs sensitized with antigen from Parascaris equorum. This antigen was not sensitive to prolonged storage in formalin. Some adult ascarid extracts prepared from worms that had been stored for 14 days in 10 per cent formalin before use, retained their ability to produce an allergenic response. The antisera withstood heat inactivation at 56 degrees for up to 7 h or treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol and were still capable of eliciting a skin response. The skin response persisted for 96 h after sensitization. The serum of animals sensitized with a single dose of P. equorum antigen remained capable of producing a positive passive cutaneous anaphylactic response up to 245 days after the sensitizing dose. It appears, from the results obtained, that this antibody resembles IgG1, rather than IgE.