Global Change and Helminth Infections in Grazing Ruminants in Europe: Impacts, Trends and Sustainable Solutions

Abstract

Infections with parasitic helminths (nematodes and trematodes) represent a significant economic and welfare burden to the global ruminant livestock industry. The increasing prevalence of anthelmintic resistance means that current control programmes are costly and unsustainable in the long term. Recent changes in the epidemiology, seasonality and geographic distribution of helminth infections have been attributed to climate change. However, other changes in environment (e.g., land use) and in livestock farming, such as intensification and altered management practices, will also have an impact on helminth infections. Sustainable control of helminth infections in a changing world requires detailed knowledge of these interactions. In particular, there is a need to devise new, sustainable strategies for the effective control of ruminant helminthoses in the face of global change. In this paper, we consider the impact of helminth infections in grazing ruminants, taking a European perspective, and identify scientific and applied priorities to mitigate these impacts. These include the development and deployment of efficient, high-throughput diagnostic tests to support targeted intervention, modelling of geographic and seasonal trends in infection, more thorough economic data and analysis of the impact of helminth infections and greater translation and involvement of end-users in devising and disseminating best practices. Complex changes in helminth epidemiology will require innovative solutions. By developing and using new technologies and models, the use of anthelmintics can be optimised to limit the development and spread of drug resistance and to reduce the overall economic impact of helminth infections. This will be essential to the continued productivity and profitability of livestock farming in Europe and its contribution to regional and global food security

Haemonchus contortus: spatial risk distribution for infection in sheep in Europe

“…Haemonchus, Ostertagia, Teladorsagia, Trichostrongylus, Cooperia, Oesophagostomum, Chabertia) -continue to cause significant economic and welfare burden to the global livestock industry in Europe (Morgan et al, 2013;Charlier et al, 2014;. The ranking of these GI parasitic worms as one of the top causes of lost productivity in ruminants (http://www.discontools.eu) reinforces the increasing consideration in the European Union (EU) of the impact of strongyles upon animal health and productivity.…”

The relation between input-output transformation and gastrointestinal nematode infections on dairy farms

“…A comparison of the answers on the two questionnaires indicated that over the years (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013) the preventive measure of mowing pasture before grazing was less frequently applied and the length of the grazing season increased. All these changes are known to contribute to higher levels of GI nematode exposure (Bennema et al, 2010;Vanderstichel et al, 2012;Morgan et al, 2013). In Group 1, the level of exposure to infection was found to be positively correlated to pasture per 100 l milk and to the ratio 'dairy cow/variable cost' and negatively to the ratio 'concentrates/pasture' and 'concentrates/dairy cow' (Table 2).…”

“…In literature, most studies assess the impact of GI nematodes on partial productivity measures such as milk production per cow (Charlier et al, 2009;Blanco-Penedo et al, 2012), daily weight gain (Dimander et al, 2003) and reproductive performance (Sanchez and Dohoo, 2002;Sithole et al, 2006). However, analysing the effect of GI nematodes and control measures on the whole-farm performance requires a more integrative approach (Morgan et al, 2013;van der Voort et al, 2013).…”

Using a One Health approach to assess the impact of parasitic disease in livestock: how does it add value?

“…It is hypothesised, that parasitic infections increase greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production because of the increased time and inputs required for animals to reach final production weight (Morgan et al, 2013). However, currently very little data are available on the role of endemic parasitic disease in greenhouse gas emissions or on the effect of mitigation strategies in reducing emissions.…”