Performance of three techniques for diagnosing equine tapeworm infection.
Abstract: Tapeworm infection in horses can cause serious health concerns, and recent data have documented treatment failures in the most common species, Anoplocephala perfoliata. The threat of anthelmintic resistance in A. perfoliata is of particular concern because of poor diagnostic performance of standard egg counting techniques for detecting this parasite. This study compared the performance of three diagnostic techniques 1) Mini-FLOTAC, 2) Cornell-Wisconsin, and 3) Proudman and Edwards used to detect and quantify A. perfoliata eggs in naturally infected horses. Eighteen adult female horses from the University of Kentucky's historic parasitology herd were included in this study. Fecal samples were collected from all horses at five collection time points two weeks apart and analyzed with the three techniques. A total of 90 samples were collected and 270 counts determined in the study. The proportions of positive samples determined by the three techniques were significantly different from each other (p<0.05): Mini-FLOTAC (16%), Cornell-Wisconsin (47%), and Proudman and Edwards (70%). The Proudman and Edwards technique counted consistently higher numbers of tapeworm eggs compared to the other two techniques throughout the study [p < 0.05]. Total raw counts of tapeworm eggs across the study for each technique were 16, 88, and 410 for the Mini-FLOTAC, Cornell-Wisconsin, and Proudman and Edwards, respectively. This study demonstrated that the Proudman and Edwards technique was superior in diagnosing A. perfoliata infection. Future work needs to assess this technique's potential for Fecal Egg Count Reduction Testing (FECRT).
Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2024-02-24 PubMed ID: 38430622DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2024.110152Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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Overview
- This study evaluated and compared the effectiveness of three different diagnostic techniques for detecting equine tapeworm (Anoplocephala perfoliata) eggs in horse feces.
- The goal was to identify which method more accurately detects these infections, which are important due to health issues and treatment failures linked to tapeworms in horses.
Background
- Equine tapeworm infection, specifically by Anoplocephala perfoliata, poses serious health risks to horses.
- Treatment failures have been observed, possibly related to emerging resistance against anthelmintic drugs.
- Standard diagnostic methods, especially egg counting techniques, have had poor performance in reliably detecting these tapeworm eggs.
- Accurate diagnosis is critical to assess infection status and manage treatment effectively.
Research Objective
- Compare three fecal egg detection and quantification methods: Mini-FLOTAC, Cornell-Wisconsin, and Proudman and Edwards techniques.
- Determine which technique offers the best sensitivity and accuracy in detecting A. perfoliata eggs in naturally infected horses.
Methods
- Sample Population: 18 adult female horses from a historic parasitology herd at the University of Kentucky.
- Sampling Procedure: Fecal samples were collected from each horse at 5 time points, each two weeks apart, totaling 90 samples.
- Testing: Each sample was analyzed by all three diagnostic techniques, resulting in 270 individual egg count tests.
- Data Analysis: The proportion of positive samples and egg counts were compared statistically among the techniques.
Results
- Proportion of Positive Detection:
- Mini-FLOTAC: 16% of samples positive.
- Cornell-Wisconsin: 47% of samples positive.
- Proudman and Edwards: 70% of samples positive.
- The differences among the three techniques’ positivity rates were statistically significant (p < 0.05).
- Egg Counts:
- Proudman and Edwards consistently detected higher numbers of tapeworm eggs than the other two methods (p < 0.05).
- Total egg counts across all samples were:
- Mini-FLOTAC: 16 eggs
- Cornell-Wisconsin: 88 eggs
- Proudman and Edwards: 410 eggs
Conclusions
- The Proudman and Edwards technique outperformed Mini-FLOTAC and Cornell-Wisconsin methods in detecting and counting A. perfoliata eggs.
- This suggests it is the superior choice for diagnosing equine tapeworm infections using fecal samples.
- Given better diagnostic accuracy, this technique has significant potential for use in Fecal Egg Count Reduction Testing (FECRT), a procedure critical for assessing treatment efficacy and drug resistance.
Implications and Future Directions
- Improving diagnostic accuracy will aid veterinarians and researchers in better understanding infection prevalence and in optimizing treatment strategies for equine tapeworms.
- Future research should evaluate the Proudman and Edwards technique in the context of FECRT to monitor anthelmintic resistance.
- Refining diagnostics is essential to address treatment failures and to control the health impact of tapeworm infections in horses.
Cite This Article
APA
Anderson HC, Warner SF, Ripley NE, Nielsen MK.
(2024).
Performance of three techniques for diagnosing equine tapeworm infection.
Vet Parasitol, 327, 110152.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2024.110152 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, 1400 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, KY 40503, USA. Electronic address: hailey.anderson@uky.edu.
- Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, 1400 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, KY 40503, USA.
- Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, 1400 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, KY 40503, USA.
- Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, 1400 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, KY 40503, USA.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Horses
- Female
- Horse Diseases / diagnosis
- Horse Diseases / parasitology
- Parasite Egg Count / veterinary
- Parasite Egg Count / methods
- Ovum
- Cestode Infections / diagnosis
- Cestode Infections / veterinary
- Cestode Infections / parasitology
- Cestoda
- Feces / parasitology
Conflict of Interest Statement
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Citations
This article has been cited 3 times.- Girisgin O, Gülegen E, Girisgin AO, Cirak VY. Potassium carbonate as an alternative solution for detecting Anoplocephalid eggs in horse faecal samples.. BMC Vet Res 2025 Dec 22;22(1):30.
- Kukurić T, Erdeljan M, Matthews JB, Lightbody KL, Austin CJ, Peczak N, Uzelac A, Klun I, Simin S. A Prevalence Study on Anoplocephala spp. in Serbian Horses: Navigating Diagnostic Challenges and Understanding Infection Risks.. Animals (Basel) 2025 Jul 16;15(14).
- Nielsen MK, Pyatt A, Perrett J, Tydén E, van Doorn D, Pihl TH, Schmidt JS, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G, Beasley A, Abbas G, Jabbar A. Global equine parasite control guidelines: Consensus or confusion?. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2025 Aug;28:100600.
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