New article: [The resistance status of gastrointestinal strongyles against anthelmintics in three Estonian sheep flocks]

Abstract
Poor efficacy of anthelmintic drugs in sheep due to infections with resistant gastrointestinal strongyles is reported worldwide. The aim of this pilot study was to gain an insight into the current situation of anthelmintic efficacy in Estonian sheep flocks. From September to November 2012, faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were carried out in three Estonian sheep farms, evaluating the efficacy of albendazole and ivermectin. Individual faecal samples were taken at the day of treatment and 10 to 14 days later and examined by a modified McMaster technique. Anthelmintic treatment was carried out with ivermectin (Bimectin 10 mg/ml, Bimeda Chemicals Export) subcutaneously with a dose rate of 0.2 mg/kg of body weight in the IVM group (n = 20 animals/farms 1 and 2; n = 5 for farm 3) or albendazol (Endospec 10%, Bimeda Chemicals Export) orally in the dose of 5 mg/kg of body weight in the ALB group (n = 20 animals/ farm); animals in the control group (n = 20 animals for farms 1 and 3, n = 18 for farm 2) were left untreated. The FECRT was carried out according to the WAAVP guidelines. On farm 1 the efficacy of albendazole and ivermectin was reduced with 66% and 65% FECR, respectively. With a FECR of 26% the results of farm 2 showed a pronounced albendazole resistance while ivermectin was still sufficiently efficient (99% reduction). Farm 3 showed nearly 100% efficacy of albendazole and ivermectin, but earlier problems with high endoparasite burden and mortality may indicate a possible developing albendazole resistance which could not be detected with the FECRT yet. The results of this study show that in Estonia resistance against benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones does occur, indicating that close countrywide monitoring is advisable.

Full article: 
Anupöld AM, Hinney B, Joachim A. [The resistance status of gastrointestinal strongyles against anthelmintics in three Estonian sheep flocks]. Berl Munch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 2014 Jan-Feb;127(1-2):50-5.
[Article in German]

An overview of faecal parasitological investigations in Estonian animals

Author: Brian Lassen

The data presented here is collected from the official reports of the Estonian Veterinary and Food Laboratory (VAFL) and presented using the Gapminder motion chart tool, which is available through Google Documents.

With this chart, we encourage you to explore the history of samples sent to VAFL from 2000 to 2010. You can adjust the X and Y axis to what you wish to observe and press the play button. You can mark specific animal species of interest and follow the development over time by clicking on the bubble or tick it in the side menu.

Different animal species were investigated every year. Faecal samples were investigated for different pathogens (parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi). One type of animal, such as "cattle", will make up a proportion of these samples and is represented by the Y-axis. For larger or smaller proportions of samples sent for diagnostics were faecal samples - this proportion is represented by the X-axis. The size of the bubble represent the number of faecal samples submitted that year from that animal. You can also alter the axis' to the sums by choosing in the pull-down menu.

As example, mark "Cattle" and run. Notice how the proportion parasitological faecal samples investigated from cattle make up a large proportion of the faecal samples every year, but with huge fluctuations. At the same time the number of samples sent for investigations from cattle increase over time, but the proportion of parasitological faecal samples out of all kinds of investigations in cattle do not pass 20%.
One interpretation of this is that cattle is seen as important compared to other kinds of animals (horses for example) by those who submit samples to VAFL for parasitological investigations. Still the number of submitted samples are not very large. At the same time the focus of cattle investigations switched towards other types (bacteriological). 

For exploring the graph try answering the following questions by exploring the interactive figure.

• Which animals are most frequently submitted faecal samples from? Does it change over time?
• Is it mainly small or large animals that are submitted to the laboratories? Does it change over time?
• Is the diversity of sample types (different species of animals) changing over time?
• Do the submission of samples from different animals reflect what you would expect for that animal group regarding parasites that could be detected in faecal samples?
• Are the number of faecal samples from different animals having large or small variations?

We remind you this is not research data, but simply what is submitted to the diagnostic laboratories in Estonia and should be viewed as such. Still, exactly what is being submitted over time tells interesting stories. We encourage to explore.