Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Identification Of Internal Parasites Of Sheep And Goats, Amanda Chaney

Honors College

Abomasal worms are a major cause of small ruminant disease. Differentiation of the most pathogenic nematode, H. contortus, from the other common species can be difficult using standard diagnostic fecal floatation techniques because the ova are similar in size and morphology. Known pure culture H. contortus fecal samples from West Virginia University were used to develop morphologic assays using FITC-labeled lectin agglutination and immunocytochemistry to identify species of abomasal worms. These assays were applied to assess disease due to abomasal worms on selected small ruminant farms in Maine. The diagnostic tests were used to test the hypothesis that H. contortus …