Development and Optimisation of the FECPAKg2 System to Speciate Protozoan Infections in Livestock and Improve Productivity and Sustainability

牛羊球虫病是由被称为艾美耳球虫的原生动物寄生虫感染消化道引起的。有许多种艾美耳球虫，但其中只有一小部分通常与临床疾病有关；可能存在其他艾美耳球虫种类，但不被认为是重要的病原体。球虫病可以影响动物一生中的任何阶段，但由于幼小动物的免疫力较低，因此最容易受到感染。疾病一年四季都可以看到；最常见的是在一年中的雨季爆发。由于全球变暖，英国每年都在继续变暖和变湿。感染会导致肠道吸收能力的丧失，随之而来的是严重的腹泻。受影响的动物通常体重减轻、疼痛和长期康复，导致福利考虑、长时间延误完成、易受继发性细菌感染和额外的饲养费用，以及治疗费用(包括劳动力和药物)。它是牛和羊中最具经济意义的疾病之一，因为它对牛群/羊群的生产造成了相当大的影响。目前的诊断包括粪便检测是否存在卵囊。对粪便样本的解释具有挑战性，因为正常牛犊的粪便中可能存在少量的卵囊，并不是所有的艾美耳球虫都被认为是致病的。在粪便样本中显示大量卵囊是有帮助的，但物种形成是确定球虫是否致病的关键。目前的物种形成做法需要卵囊产孢子(目前需要3至5天)，然后由技术高超的技术人员对孢子化卵囊进行显微镜检查。然而，由于从外部实验室获得结果到兽医实践所需的成本和时间，在现场暴发中很少进行这项工作。由于这些限制以及在福利和生产力方面要求迅速治疗的压力，农民通常会用非靶向治疗来全面治疗动物。由项目合作伙伴Techion开发的现有FECPAKg2系统是一个农场粪卵计数快速诊断平台，目前用于检测反刍动物和马匹中的寄生虫感染。该项目将评估采用现有的FECPAKg2系统检测原生动物寄生虫的可行性，以及开发和集成自动图像识别软件，以使用未产生孢子的卵囊的数字图像客观地进行物种鉴定(例如，使用新鲜粪便样本立即进行诊断)。

Coccidiosis in cattle and sheep is caused by infection of the alimentary tract with protozoan parasites called Eimeria _spp_. There are many species of _Eimeria_ but only a small proportion of these are commonly associated with clinical disease; other _Eimeria_ species may be present but are not considered important pathogens. Coccidiosis can affect animals at any stage in their lifetime, however young animals are most vulnerable due to their low immunity. Disease can be seen all year round; it is most common that outbreaks will occur during the wet seasons of the year. The UK continues to get warmer and wetter each year as a result of global warming.Infection causes a loss of absorptive capacity of the gut with consequent diarrhoea which can be severe. Affected animals usually suffer weight loss, pain and protracted convalescence resulting in welfare considerations, lengthy delays to finishing, susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections and extra feeding costs, alongside cost of treatment (including labour and medicines). It is one of the most economically significant diseases in cattle and sheep due to the considerable impact on production at herd/flock level.Current diagnosis involves faecal testing for presence of oocysts. Interpretation of faecal samples is challenging because there may be low numbers of oocysts present in the faeces of normal calves, and not all _Eimeria spp._ are considered to be pathogenic. Demonstration of large numbers of oocysts in faecal samples is helpful but speciation is essential to determine whether coccidia are pathogenic. Current practice for speciation requires sporulation of the oocyst (which currently takes between 3 and 5 days) and then microscopic examination of the sporulated oocyst by a highly skilled technician. However, this is rarely undertaken in field outbreaks due to cost and time taken to get results from external laboratories to the veterinary practice. With these limitations and the pressures for prompt treatment regarding welfare and productivity, farmers would usually blanket treat animals with a non-targeted treatment.The existing FECPAKg2 system developed by project partner Techion is a rapid on-farm diagnostic platform for faecal egg count testing currently used to detect parasitic nematode infections in ruminants and equids. This project will assess the feasibility of adapting the existing FECPAKg2 system to detect protozoan parasites, alongside development and integration with automated image recognition software to objectively speciate using digital images of un-sporulated oocysts (e.g. immediate diagnosis using fresh faecal samples).