"So, naturalists observe, a flea has smaller fleas that on him prey; and these have smaller still to bite ’em; and so proceed ad infinitum."
- Jonathan Swift

July 18, 2010

July 18 - Strongyloides westeri

Poor babies - baby horses, that is. Strongyloides westeri is a nematode known as a threadworm that can make foals very sick by giving them very bad diarrhea, resulting in weakness, weight loss and poor growth. The adult worms reside in the small intestine and lay eggs that pass out in the feces. Horses can be infected by ingesting the larvae or if the larvae penetrate through their skin, however, one of the most common routes of infection is via the mother's milk, which is somewhat unusual among parasites. For this reason, veterinarians commonly recommend that mares be dewormed on the day that they give birth and that foals be dewormed several times in their first few weeks.

No comments:

Post a Comment