Rapid assessment of faecal egg count and faecal egg count reduction through composite sampling in cattle

Abstract

Background Faecal egg counts (FEC) and the FEC reduction test (FECRT) for assessing gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infection and efficacy of anthelmintics are rarely carried out on ruminant farms because of the cost of individual analyses. The use of pooled faecal samples is a promising method to reduce time and costs, but few studies are available for cattle, especially on the evaluation of different pool sizes and FECRT application. Methods A study was conducted to assess FEC strategies based on pooled faecal samples using different pool sizes and to evaluate the pen-side use of a portable FEC-kit for the assessment of FEC on cattle farms. A total of 19 farms representing 29 groups of cattle were investigated in Italy and France. On each farm, individual faecal samples from heifers were collected before (D0) and two weeks after (D14) anthelmintic treatment with ivermectin or benzimidazoles. FEC were determined individually and as pooled samples using the Mini-FLOTAC technique. Four different pool sizes were used: 5 individual samples, 10 individual samples, global and global on-farm. Correlations and agreements between individual and pooled results were estimated with Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficients, respectively. Results High correlation and agreement coefficients were found between the mean of individual FEC and the mean of FEC of the different pool sizes when considering all FEC obtained at D0 and D14. However, these parameters were lower for FECR calculation due to a poorer estimate of FEC at D14 from the faecal pools. When using FEC from pooled samples only at D0, higher correlation and agreement coefficients were found between FECR data, the better results being obtained with pools of 5 samples. Interestingly, FEC obtained on pooled samples by the portable FEC-kit on-farm showed high correlation and agreement with FEC obtained on individual samples in the laboratory. This field approach has to be validated on a larger scale to assess its feasibility and reliability. Conclusions The present study highlights that the pooling strategy and the use of portable FEC-kits on-farm are rapid and cost-effective procedures for the assessment of GIN egg excretion and can be used cautiously for FECR calculation following the administration of anthelmintics in cattle.

A Qualitative Market Analysis Applied to Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC for Diagnosis of Helminth Infections in Ruminants

“…In addition, the Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC are user-friendly devices (i.e., no special equipment such as a centrifuge, or trained technicians are required), so they can be used directly by veterinarians or farmers in the field (pen-side use) (8). Recently, Rinaldi et al (16) showed that the use on farm of a portable Mini-FLOTACkit (composed of 2 Fill-FLOTAC, 2 Mini-FLOTAC, the salt to prepare the flotation solution and all the material necessary to perform the Mini-FLOTAC technique) ( Figure 2) and a portable microscope is a swift and cost-effective procedure for FEC of GIN in cattle. To further reduce time and costs, a pooling strategy has been successfully developed and validated for cattle and sheep feces using the Mini-FLOTAC technique (9,11,12,16).…”

“…Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC, developed by the Unit of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production (University of Naples Federico II), are easy-to-use devices, used in combination to perform the Mini-FLOTAC technique, a multivalent, sensitive, accurate, precise, and reproducible copromicroscopic method (8). Because of these characteristics, these tools have increasingly been employed in FEC and FECRT surveys (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). The Mini-FLOTAC is a self-contained device for viewing and counting helminth eggs per gram of feces, under the microscope, after preparation from fecal samples, using the Fill-FLOTAC device (8).…”

Cattle gastrointestinal nematode egg-spiked faecal samples: high recovery rates using the Mini-FLOTAC technique

“…Diagnostic methods for GIN include faecal egg count (FEC) techniques that are commonly used in parasitological research and veterinary practice to indirectly assess GIN burdens and determine anthelmintic efficacy/resistance through the faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) [6]. FEC techniques based on easy-to-use devices with high diagnostic performance in terms of sensitivity, accuracy, precision and reproducibility are suggested to perform reliable and exploitable FEC/FECRT in cattle [5,7].…”

“…Cornell-Wisconsin, McMaster and FECPAK, and was shown to be more sensitive, accurate and precise for FEC and FECRT of GINs in sheep [7, [9][10][11][12]. Mini-FLOTAC has been also successfully used to perform FEC and FECRT (in the laboratory and on-farm) in cattle [5,7,13,14]. However, only a single study by Paras et al [7] evaluated the recovery rate of GIN eggs by Mini-FLOTAC (compared to…”

Evaluation of mini-FLOTAC method for diagnosing intestinal parasitic infections

“…Despite the high sensitivity of FEC and FECM techniques, they are limited by the need for centrifugation of the sample [8] . The FLOTAC method, originally developed for diagnosis of veterinary parasites infections [9] , was later used for the diagnosis of human intestinal helminthes and protozoa infections [10,11] . The mini-FLOTAC technique was then introduced as a reasonable development of FLOTAC for performing multivalent, and qualitative diagnosis of intestinal parasitic infections in human and animal feces.…”