Comparison of egg excretion and serum pepsinogen levels as measures of nematode worm burdens in calves with limited pasture exposure

Four- to 6-mo-old calves raised on clean pastures were allowed to graze for about 30 days on pastures naturally contaminated with Ostertagia ostertagi, Cooperia spp., Haemonchus placei, and Nematodirus helvetianus. The calves were then housed on concrete for 3 wk before slaughter. At necropsy the eg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of parasitology 1989-06, Vol.75 (3), p.360-366
Main Authors: Murrell, K.D, Leighton, E.A, Boswell, B.A, Gasbarre, L.C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abomasum - parasitology
Animals
Calves
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - diagnosis
DEGRADATION
DETERIORO
Diagnostics
Eggs
EXCRECION
EXCRETION
Feces - parasitology
INFECCIONES POR NEMATODOS
Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic - diagnosis
Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic - veterinary
Intestine, Small - parasitology
Logarithms
NEMATODE
Nematode eggs
Nematodes
NEMATODOS
NEMATODOSE
OVULE
OVULO
Parasite Egg Count - veterinary
Parasitology
PASTIZALES
Pastures
PATURAGES
PEPSINA
PEPSINE
Pepsinogens - blood
SERUM SANGUIN
SUERO SANGUINEO
TERNERO
Trichostrongyloidea - isolation & purification
Trichostrongyloidiasis - diagnosis
Trichostrongyloidiasis - veterinary
VEAU
Veterinary medicine
Worms
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Summary:Four- to 6-mo-old calves raised on clean pastures were allowed to graze for about 30 days on pastures naturally contaminated with Ostertagia ostertagi, Cooperia spp., Haemonchus placei, and Nematodirus helvetianus. The calves were then housed on concrete for 3 wk before slaughter. At necropsy the eggs per gram of feces (EPG) and the total worm burdens from the abomasum and small intestine were determined. Blood samples were also obtained for serum pepsinogen (PEP) assays. A total of 44 calves was sampled over 27 mo. Adult worm totals were distributed more normally after logarithmic transformation (LOGTOTAL), and EPG and PEP were distributed more normally after square root transformation (SQRT--EPG; SQRT--PEP). Correlation between LOGTOTAL and either SQRT--EPG or SQRT--PEP was about 0.7. These correlations were higher than those obtained with nontransformed data, suggesting that either EPG or PEP are easily measured variables that explain a significant amount of the variation observed in total worm burdens. Polynomial regression models of a cubic order using the SQRT--EPG accounted for 78% of the variation observed in the LOGTOTAL, whereas SQRT--PEP accounted for 58% of the variance. Within the range of worm burdens observed, these results indicate that EPG has value in estimating total worm burdens of naturally infected calves, and that pepsinogen levels are of less value for analysis of total worm burden in calves with a limited previous exposure to trichostrongyle nematodes
ISSN:0022-3395
1937-2345
DOI:10.2307/3282589