Gastrointestinal nematode infections were evaluated in sheep raised in Botucatu, state of São Paulo, Brazil between April 2008 and March 2011. Every month, two tracer lambs grazing with a flock of sheep were exposed to natural infection with gastrointestinal nematodes for 28 consecutive days. At the end of this period, the lambs were sacrificed for worm counts. Haemonchus contortus presented 10...

Fractionated excretory/secretory products (ES) of adult Haemonchus contortus were evaluated as protective antigens. The proteins were successively eluted from a Thiol Sepharose column using 25 mM cysteine followed by 25 mM Dl-dithiothreitol (DTT). Sheep were vaccinated three times and challenged with 5000 third stage infective larvae (L3) of H. contortus. Highest level of protection was found i...

The study assessed the effect of dietary supplementation of leaf meal mixture (LMM) containing condensed tannins (CT) on feed intake, nutrient utilization and performance of sheep infected with Haemonchus contortus. Eighteen adult sheep of similar age and body weight (25.03±1.52) were included in this study and out of these, 12 sheep were infected with single dose of infective third stage larva...

This study evaluated the effect of Artemisia absinthium and Malva sylvestris on antioxidant response histopathological changes in abomasa Haemonchus contortus infected lambs. Twenty-four lambs were divided into four groups: unsupplemented (UNS), supplemented with A. (ART), M. (MAL), both plants (ARTMAL). Lambs orally approximately 5000 third-stage (L3) larvae H. contortus. The experiment was co...

Genetic analysis of parasitic nematodes has been a neglected area of research and the basic genetics of this important group of pathogens are poorly understood. Haemonchus contortus is one of the most economically significant livestock parasites worldwide and is a key experimental model for the strongylid nematode group that includes many important human and animal pathogens. We have undertaken...

Sheep grazed on natural pastures heavily infested with infective larvae of Haemonchus contortus. Sixty-eight weaned Merinos were divided into 6 groups on Day 0 (23 November 1977), and on Day +14 (7 December) 79 Merinos were divided into 7 groups. There were 2 groups of undosed controls and other groups were either dosed with infective larvae of Trichostrongylus axei (bovine strain) only on Days...

Eosinophils are one of the major mammalian effector cells encountered by helminths during infection. In the present study, we investigated the effects of eosinophil granule exposure on the sheep parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus as a model. H. contortus eggs exposed to eosinophil granule products showed increased rhodamine 123 efflux and this effect was not due to loss of egg integrity. R...

Because of the development of anthelmintic resistant populations, the search for new drugs is essential to maintain the productivity of small ruminants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of Croton zehntneri and Lippia sidoides essential oils and their major constituents, anethole and thymol. The effects of these oils and their constituents were determined by in vit...

The study was conducted on 162 adult male Haemonchus contortus of sheep collected from Avikanagar, Jaipur and Bikaner regions to diagnose the benzimidazole (BZ) resistance in H. contortus. The BZ resistance is primarily linked with the mutation in β-tubulin isotype 1 gene which substitute phenylalanine (Phe) into tyrosine (Tyr) at the 200 codon of the gene. An allele specific polymerase chain r...

The efficacy of various combinations of anthelmintics against gastrointestinal nematodes in goats at an organized farm was determined using faecal egg count reduction test. Forty eight goats with eggs per gram of more than 150 were divided into four groups (groups I, II, III and IV) of 12 goats each. Groups I, II and III were administered fenbendazole+morantel, morantel+levamisole and levamisol...