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Wild horse populations in south-east Australia have a high prevalence of Strongylus vulgaris and may act as a reservoir of infection for domestic horses

Australia has over 400,000 wild horses, the largest wild equid population in the world, scattered across a range of different habitats. We hypothesised that wild horse populations unexposed to anthelmintics would have a high prevalence of Strongylus vulgaris infections. Verminous endarteritis and co...

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Published in:International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife 2019-04, Vol.8, p.156-163
Main Authors: Harvey, Andrea M., Meggiolaro, Maira N., Hall, Evelyn, Watts, Ellyssia T., Ramp, Daniel, Šlapeta, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Australia has over 400,000 wild horses, the largest wild equid population in the world, scattered across a range of different habitats. We hypothesised that wild horse populations unexposed to anthelmintics would have a high prevalence of Strongylus vulgaris infections. Verminous endarteritis and colic due to migrating S. vulgaris larvae is now absent or unreported in domestic horses in Australia, yet wild horses may pose a risk for its re-emergence. A total of 289 faecal egg counts (FECs) were performed across six remote wild horse populations in south-east Australia, of varying densities, herd sizes and habitats. Total strongyle egg counts ranged from 50 to 3740 eggs per gram (EPG, mean 1443) and 89% (257/289) of faecal samples had > 500 EPG, classifying them as ‘high level shedders’. There were significant differences in mean total strongyle FECs between different locations, habitats and population densities. Occurrence of S. vulgaris was not predictable based on FECs of total strongyle eggs or small (96.7%) prevalence of S. vulgaris.•Wild horses are a reservoir of infection of S. vulgaris for domestic horses.•89% of sampled horses were ‘high level shedders’ based on total strongyle FECs.•Wild horse populations could also serve as parasite refugia.
ISSN:2213-2244
2213-2244
DOI:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.01.008