Commercialisation of the FECPAKg2 System to Speciate Protozoan Infections in Livestock

用于鉴定牲畜原生动物感染的 FECPAKg2 系统的商业化

• 批准号: 10097789
• 金额: $ 22.21万
• 依托单位: TECHION (UK) LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10097789
• 关键词: Commercialisation; FECPAKg2; System; Speciate; Protozoan

Cattle and sheep are susceptible to coccidial infection of the alimentary tract with protozoan parasites belonging to the _Eimeria_ species. Eimeria infections are host-specific with a few pathogenic species within this genus associated with clinical disease; other co-infecting Eimeria species are often present but are not considered important pathogens. Younger animals are most vulnerable to coccidiosis due to their low immunity, although animals can be affected at any stage of their lifetime. Disease is observed all year round but it most common during the wet seasons of the year.Coccidial infections can cause severe diarrhoea resulting from the loss of absorptive capacity of the gut. Consequently, animals suffer weight loss, pain and protracted convalescence which can increase susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections. This often results in lengthy delays to finishing, increased feeding costs, costs associated with treatment (including labour and medicines, as well as welfare considerations. These considerable impacts on production at a herd/flock level represents one of the most economically significant diseases in the livestock industry.Current diagnosis largely relies on a simple faecal test for the presence of coccidia oocysts, but interpretation of the results on cyst numbers alone are challenging and should be paired with clinical assessment. Including speciation is highly beneficial to determine the presence of pathogenic _Eimeria_ spp. and to inform treatment decisions. Current practice for speciation requires sporulation of the oocyst to the next stage in its lifecycle (takes between 3-5 days), followed by microscopic examination by a highly skilled technician. Due to the cost and time taken to get results from external laboratories to the veterinary practice, speciation is rarely undertaken. Instead, farmers are under pressure to promptly treat welfare and productivity issues, would usually blanket treat animals with non-targeted treatment.Answering the call for quicker infection diagnoses (oocyst quantification) and speciation (population differentiation), our previous project confirmed that using digital imaging to detect protozoan parasites is feasible and with automated image recognition software (machine learning) it is possible to objectively speciate field populations directly from faecal samples with no requirement for sporulation (e.g. immediate diagnoses). The FECPAKG2 system, developed by Techion, is a rapid on-farm diagnostic platform currently used for faecal egg counts to detect parasitic nematode and trematode infections in ruminants and equids. The system was refined to magnify and digitally image _Eimeria_ oocysts and this proposal will look at further product development through to commercialisation of a speciated coccidia test.

牛和羊易受球虫感染的消化道原生动物寄生虫属于_艾美耳_物种。艾美耳球虫感染是宿主特异性的，该属内的一些致病性物种与临床疾病相关;其他共同感染的艾美耳球虫物种经常存在，但不被认为是重要的病原体。年幼的动物由于免疫力低而最容易受到球虫病的影响，尽管动物在其一生的任何阶段都可能受到影响。该病全年都有发生，但在一年中的雨季最为常见。球虫感染可导致肠道吸收能力丧失，导致严重腹泻。因此，动物遭受体重减轻，疼痛和长期恢复，这可能增加继发性细菌感染的易感性。这往往导致长时间推迟完成，增加喂养费用，与治疗有关的费用（包括劳动力和药品）以及福利考虑。这些相当大的影响，在牛群/羊群水平的生产代表了在畜牧业中最具经济意义的疾病之一。目前的诊断主要依赖于一个简单的粪便测试球虫卵囊的存在，但解释的结果上的囊肿数量是具有挑战性的，应与临床评估配对。包括物种形成是非常有益的，以确定存在的致病性艾美耳球虫属。并为治疗决策提供信息。目前的物种形成实践需要卵囊的孢子形成到其生命周期的下一阶段（需要3-5天），然后由高度熟练的技术人员进行显微镜检查。由于从外部实验室到兽医实践获得结果所需的成本和时间，很少进行物种形成。相反，农民面临着迅速处理福利和生产力问题的压力，通常会用非靶向治疗来全面治疗动物。（卵囊定量）和物种形成（人口分化），我们之前的项目证实，使用数字成像技术检测原生动物寄生虫是可行的，（机器学习）可以直接从粪便样品客观地形成田间种群，而不需要孢子形成（例如，立即诊断）。由Techion开发的FECPAKG 2系统是一种快速的农场诊断平台，目前用于粪便虫卵计数，以检测反刍动物和马科动物中的寄生线虫和吸虫感染。该系统经过改进，可以放大艾美球虫卵囊并对其进行数字成像，该提案将着眼于进一步的产品开发，直至专门的球虫测试的商业化。