Improving the control of liver fluke infection in cattle in the UK

改善英国牛肝吸虫感染的控制

• 批准号: BB/K015591/1
• 负责人: Diana Williams
• 金额: $ 55.57万
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2014 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FK015591%2F1
• 关键词: Improving; control; liver; fluke; infection

Liver fluke is a common parasite that affects sheep and cattle in the UK. It is found throughout the world and in some countries it affects humans too, causing serious and sometimes fatal disease.Fluke infected cattle lose weight, become anaemic, lethargic and stop being productive. This has a serious effect on the welfare of the animal and serious economic consequences for the farmer. It is thought that fluke costs UK agriculture at least £300million pounds a year through direct losses, but real costs are probably much higher. Fluke has become much more common over the past 10 years, due in part to our changing weather patterns, wet summers and mild winters favour the development of the parasite and its vector - a mud snail, found commonly throughout Britain. In a recent study we found 75% of dairy herds had evidence of fluke infection. Future climate change is predicted to have a significant impact on prevalence of infection, changing the epidemiology and increasing incidence of disease. Increased cattle movements and changes to both farm management and environmental schemes are exacerbating the problem. A limited range of drugs is available to control fasciolosis. Only one drug - triclabendazole (TCBZ), is effective against early and late juvenile and adult stages of the parasite and is used extensively for prophylaxis and treatment of disease. There is growing evidence of resistance to TCBZ in fluke populations, moreover the European Medicines Agency has recently revised its advice on drugs used to treat fluke such that they are now contra-indicated in dairy animals.Targeted use of drugs, at specific times of year will slow the development of drug resistance and reduce the overall quantity of drug used, but a better understanding of the epidemiology and transmission of disease is vital if we are to develop control programmes that rely on improved on farm management practises rather than depending solely on drugs. This ultimately will be a sustainable and cost-effective way to control both clinical and sub-clinical disease in cattle and is the express desire of the livestock industry. Specifically requested by the farming industry, the purpose of this project is to produce new, sustainable, bespoke control programmes for beef and dairy farms, to reduce losses associated with fluke infection. In order to achieve this we must first develop diagnostic tests to identify infected herds. We already have good tools that we can use on milk samples to detect infected dairy herds but we need similar tests that are appropriate for beef herds. In addition we are aware of a newly emerging parasite problem, the rumen fluke. It is not clear if this parasite causes disease but it has the potential to interfere with the diagnostic tests we are developing for fluke. Therefore we will also develop a molecular test for rumen fluke.Secondly we will develop a system to categorise snail habitats that can be used to analyse satellite maps on a regional geographic scale to obviate the need to visit every farm to investigate snail habitat. We will also investigate how cow behaviour affects how the parasite gets to a snail host and from the snail host back to the cow.These are risk factors for fluke infection on a farm. Other risk factors, particularly husbandry practices, physical and environmental factors will be obtained from a study of 250 farms and these data fed into statistical and mathematical models to determine theoretically which of these factors are the most important in determining whether a farm has fluke or not. Concurrently we will assess the cost-benefit of changing these practices. Finally we will conduct a trial to evaluate if changing farm practice is effective in reducing levels of infection. We are working in partnership with the Agricultural Levy boards of the UK to implement improved control of fluke infection to benefit animal health, welfare and profitability of livestock farming in the UK.

肝吸虫是一种常见的寄生虫，在英国影响羊和牛。它在世界各地都有发现，在一些国家也会影响人类，导致严重的甚至有时是致命的疾病。被感染的牛体重减轻，变得贫血，昏昏欲睡，失去生产力。这严重影响了动物的福利，给农民带来了严重的经济后果。据认为，吸虫每年给英国农业造成的直接损失至少为3亿英镑，但实际成本可能要高得多。在过去的10年里，吸虫变得更加常见，部分原因是我们不断变化的天气模式，潮湿的夏季和温和的冬季有利于这种寄生虫及其媒介--一种在英国各地常见的泥螺--的发展。在最近的一项研究中，我们发现75%的奶牛群有吸虫感染的证据。据预测，未来的气候变化将对感染流行、改变流行病学和增加疾病发病率产生重大影响。越来越多的牛只流动以及农场管理和环境计划的变化正在加剧这一问题。目前可用于控制肝片吸虫病的药物种类有限。只有一种药物--三氯苯达唑(TCBZ)对幼年和成年早期和晚期的寄生虫有效，并被广泛用于预防和治疗疾病。越来越多的证据表明吸虫人群对TCBZ具有抗药性，此外，欧洲药品管理局最近修订了用于治疗吸虫的药物的建议，现在奶类动物禁止使用这些药物。在一年中的特定时间有针对性地使用药物将减缓抗药性的发展，并减少药物的总使用量，但如果我们要制定依赖于改进的农场管理实践而不是仅仅依赖药物的控制程序，更好地了解疾病的流行病学和传播是至关重要的。这最终将是控制牛的临床和亚临床疾病的一种可持续和具有成本效益的方法，也是畜牧业的明确愿望。应养殖业的具体要求，该项目的目的是为牛肉和奶牛场制定新的、可持续的、定制的控制方案，以减少与吸虫感染相关的损失。为了实现这一点，我们必须首先开发诊断测试来识别受感染的牛群。我们已经有了很好的工具，可以用在牛奶样本上来检测受感染的奶牛群，但我们还需要适用于牛肉群的类似测试。此外，我们还注意到一种新出现的寄生虫问题--瘤胃吸虫。目前还不清楚这种寄生虫是否会导致疾病，但它有可能干扰我们正在开发的吸虫诊断测试。因此，我们还将开发一种瘤胃蠕动的分子测试。第二，我们将开发一种蜗牛栖息地分类系统，可用于分析区域地理尺度的卫星地图，从而省去访问每个农场调查蜗牛栖息地的需要。我们还将调查奶牛的行为如何影响寄生虫如何到达蜗牛宿主，以及如何从蜗牛宿主回到母牛。这些都是农场感染吸虫的风险因素。其他风险因素，特别是畜牧业做法、物理和环境因素，将从对250个农场的研究中获得，这些数据将被输入统计和数学模型，以从理论上确定这些因素中哪些是决定农场是否有侥幸的最重要因素。同时，我们将评估改变这些做法的成本效益。最后，我们将进行一项试验，以评估改变农场做法在降低感染水平方面是否有效。我们正在与英国农业税委员会合作，实施改进的吸虫感染控制，以造福于动物健康、福利和英国畜牧业的盈利能力。

项目成果

Fasciola hepatica from naturally infected sheep and cattle in Great Britain are diploid

• DOI: 10.1017/s0031182015000499
• 发表时间: 2015-08-01
• 期刊: PARASITOLOGY
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: Beesley, N. J.;Cwiklinski, K.;Hodgkinson, J.
• 通讯作者: Hodgkinson, J.

Prevalence and Sequence-Based Identity of Rumen Fluke in Cattle and Deer in New Caledonia.

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152603
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: PloS one
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Cauquil L;Hüe T;Hurlin JC;Mitchell G;Searle K;Skuce P;Zadoks R
• 通讯作者: Zadoks R

A mechanistic hydro-epidemiological model of liver fluke risk

肝吸虫风险的机械水流行病学模型

• DOI: 10.1101/307348
• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Beltrame L

A mechanistic hydro-epidemiological model of liver fluke risk.

肝氟风险的机械水力学模型。

• DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0072
• 发表时间: 2018-08
• 期刊: Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
• 作者: Beltrame L;Dunne T;Vineer HR;Walker JG;Morgan ER;Vickerman P;McCann CM;Williams DJL;Wagener T
• 通讯作者: Wagener T

Supplementary Material from "A mechanistic hydro-epidemiological model of liver fluke risk"

补充材料来自“肝吸虫风险的机械水流行病学模型”

• DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.6931382
• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Beltrame L