Prevalence and epidemiology of the major gastrointestinal parasites of horses in Perth, Western Australia.

The research article is a concise examination of a study that was conducted to determine the prevalence of major gastrointestinal parasites in horses within Perth, Western Australia, from the year 1979 to 1982.

Study Overview

• The study consisted of a survey that was conducted to understand the prevalence of major gastrointestinal parasites within a sample of 140 horses that were subject to necropsy.
• The time frame for the study was from the year 1979 to 1982, and the geographical location was Perth, Western Australia.

Findings – Prevalence of Parasites

• The prevalence of Strongylus vulgaris was noted in 22.5% of the horses while verminous arteritis was found in 62.9%.
• The peak prevalence for these worms was during the months of November to January.
• Parasites such as Draschia megastoma and Habronema muscae were found in 66.2% and 35.3% of horses respectively.
• Horses were also observed to be infected with Gasterophilus intestinalis and G nasalis, occurring in 36.4% and 22.1% of the horses. It was noted that 52.1% of horses were infected with either or both of these species.
• The parasite Parascaris equorum was found in around 9.9% of the total horses, with this figure increasing to 21.3% in horses aged less than three years. Anoplocephala perfoliata was found in 4.9% of the horses, with a majority of these detections occurring in older horses.

Findings – Infection Period

• The study suggests that infections are likely to be acquired during the summer when 8% of Musca domestica present in the vicinity of the stables carried third-stage spiruroid larvae.
• Different parasites showed varying peak prevalence times. For instance, the maximum prevalence of G intestinalis larvae occurred in December while that of G nasalis was in May. The low prevalence periods or troughs also differed; G intestinalis had a trough in February-April and G nasalis had a trough in November-December.