New tools for sustainable control of liver fluke in ruminants

食用动物被多种寄生虫感染，这严重损害了它们的健康和生产力。肝吸虫肝片吸虫是英国许多地区牛和羊的最常见和高致病性寄生虫之一。控制这种寄生虫涉及用杀吸虫剂（杀死吸虫的药物）对反刍动物进行战略性治疗，并以“吸虫预测”为指导，根据气候数据预测肝吸虫感染的风险。然而，对最广泛使用的杀吸虫剂的耐药性正在出现，对肝吸虫的可持续控制构成严重威胁。同时，目前的吸虫预测是基于旧的数据，有有限的信息来验证新的模型，所以需要新的方法来跟踪吸虫种群。这个博士项目旨在产生和使用肝吸虫的基因组数据，为这种寄生虫开发一个新的遗传标记的大面板。这些标志物将用于分析英国不同地理位置绵羊和牛肝吸虫种群结构的季节性变化，为疾病负担、感染传播以及杀吸虫剂耐药性的出现和传播提供重要见解。此外，将利用项目期间收集的数据，包括寄生虫遗传数据，开发和测试新的“吸虫预测”模型。这将能够更好地预测肝吸虫感染可能发生的时间和地点，从而改善对这种寄生虫的可持续控制，并最终改善牲畜健康和生产力。

Food producing animals are infected by multiple species of parasites, which severely compromise their health and productivity. The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica is amongst the most common and highly pathogenic parasites of cattle and sheep in many parts of the UK. Control of this parasite involves strategic treatment of ruminants with flukicides (drugs which kill flukes), guided by "fluke forecasts" which predict risk of liver fluke infection based on climate data. However, resistance is emerging to the most widely used flukicide, posing a severe threat to sustainable liver fluke control. Meanwhile, current fluke forecasts are based on old data and there is limited information available to validate new models, so new methods of tracking fluke populations are needed.This PhD project aims to generate and use genomic data from liver fluke to develop a large panel of novel genetic markers for this parasite. These markers will be used to analyse seasonal variations in liver fluke population structure in sheep and cattle in different geographical locations in the UK, providing important insights into disease burden, infection transmission and the potential for emergence and spread of flukicide resistance. In addition, new "fluke forecasting" models will be developed and tested using data collected during the project, including parasite genetic data. This will enable better predictions of when and where liver fluke infection is likely to occur, leading to improved and sustainable control of this parasite, and ultimately better livestock health and productivity.