Nematode infections are a re-emerging problem that is becoming highly prevalent in European poultry farms, they limit farm’s productivity and potentially impair chickens’ welfare. Tackling nematode infections fits within the framework of MonoGutHealth which aims to improve gut health for rearing of more resilient chickens. Nematode infections threaten intestinal health, and a rapid non-invasive, animal friendly method of diagnosing ascaridsis indeed a step forward in maintaining a sustainable livestock production.
For many decades, researchers and practitioners have relied on faecal egg counting techniques to identify and quantifyascarid infections on farms and individuals, and of course, there have been improvements over the years in the accuracy and precision of the methods used for faecal egg counting. The two technics—McMaster and MiniFLOTAC—are nowadays the standard methods used. While these methods can show indication of nematode infections in faeces, they are not always reliable for many reasons that were addressed in the recently published manuscript.
As the next step, the researchers will focus on pattern of worm antigen excretion during the course of infections for a longer period of time, and compare diagnostic accuracy of the copro-antigenA worm specific substance found in the faeces of infected hosts animals. They can be used to diagnos… ELISA with the most commonly used other techniques, including classical faecal egg counting techniques and serological tools (i.e. antibody-ELISA).