Establish  parasite  burden  &  faecal  albumin  

Administer  appropriate  anthelmin6c  

Reassess  faecal  albumin  

The effect of parasite burden on faecally-excreted albumin

School of Veterinary Medicine,University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK

The aim of this study was to determine if faecally excreted albumin, measured using a commercially available test kit, was related to the parasite burden of otherwise healthy horses.

Aim

•  Qualitative or semi-quantitative. •  Designed for non-laboratory environments. •  Strip of carrier material containing dry

reagents which are activated upon application of a fluid sample.

Lateral flow immunoassay

After ‘Lateral Flow Immunoassay’ Springer Publications, Wong and Tse

The  ‘Succeed’  lateral  flow  immunoassay  contains  monoclonal  an6bodies  targeted  to  equine  haemoglobin  and  albumin.    

Study outline

Materials and Methods

•  21 horses •  Mixed breeds •  Ages 6-26 (Mean 15yrs, standard deviation

5.89) •  6 mares, 14 geldings Previous parasite management strategy involved FWECs q3 months and annual tapeworm ELISA. FWEC and tapeworm ELISA pre-anthelmintic:

Interpreta6on  of  tapeworm  ELISA:  <0.2-­‐  Zero/low  infec.on  intensity  

0.2-­‐0.7-­‐  Moderate  infec.on  intensity  >0.7-­‐  High  infec.on  intensity  

Results

Positive 81%

Negative 19%

Pre-anthelmintic faecal albumin

Positive 29%

Negative 71%

Post-anthelmintic faecal albumin

Moxidectin administered to all horses regardless of FWEC for seasonal treatment of encysted cyathstomes, + praziquantel if ELISA optical density > 0.2.

Statistical analysis

•  McNemar’s tests conducted to identify significant differences in the proportion of albumin positive test results pre- and post- anthelmintic administration: •  No significant relationship between FWEC (P=0.64) or tapeworm ELISA (P=0.35) and a positive faecal albumin (Mann-Whitney tests). •  Recent anthelmintic treatment was associated with the likelihood of a positive faecal albumin test.

•  However, faecal albumin was not associated with the actual degree of parasite burden (when measured by FWEC or tapeworm ELISA).

•  Lack of statistical power to identify association between FWEC or tapeworm ELISA and faecal albumin.

•  Now being repeated on a larger scale.

•  FWEC and tapeworm ELISA are imperfect measures of the true parasite burden, but are the best available ante-mortem tests at present. Acknowledgements

•  Freedom Health for funding my PhD and providing the test kits

•  Dr Tim Parkin •  Professor Derek Knottenbelt •  The Riding for the Disabled Association

who allowed their horses to be used for this study

•  James McGoldrick- Parasitology

n.kerbyson.1@research.gla.ac.uk University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401

An example of a commonly used lateral flow immunoassay

After ‘Lateral Flow Immunoassay’ Springer Publications, Wong and Tse

Conclusions

Albumin  was  significantly  more  likely  to  be  detected  pre-­‐anthelmin6c  than  post-­‐anthelmin6c:  P=  0.004  

Results- 2 weeks later

N. Kerbyson BVMS Cert AVP (EM) MRCVS, D. Knottenbelt OBE BVM&S DipECEIM MRCVS, T.D.H. Parkin BSc, BVSc, PhD, DipECVPH, FHEA, MRCVS