Fasciola hepatica seroprevalence in Northern German dairy herds and associations with milk production parameters and milk ketone bodies

Publication date: Available online 27 December 2019Source: Veterinary ParasitologyAuthor(s): Katharina May, Ernst Bohlsen, Sven König, Christina StrubeAbstractInfections with the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica remain a serious problem in dairy herds causing significant production losses. In sheep, a strong relationship between F. hepatica infections and an increase in serum ketone bodies due to reduced feed intake and liver damage was demonstrated. We hypothesized that F. hepatica infections might contribute to an increase in milk ketone bodies in dairy herds. Thus, the objective of the study was to estimate the association between F. hepatica bulk tank milk (BTM) antibodies and milk production parameters (milk yield, milk protein, fat yield), somatic cell count (SCC) and the milk ketone bodies ß-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and acetone, inferred from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, via linear mixed model analysis. A further aim was to follow up the F. hepatica seroprevalence in dairy herds in the northern German region East Frisia. We collected BTM samples between October and December from 1022 herds in 2017 and 1318 herds in 2018. Overall, 33.1% of the herds tested positive in 2017 and 37.0% in 2018, showing decreased F. hepatica seroprevalences compared to prior seroprevalence studies in the same region in 2010, 2008 and 2006 (> 45% positive herds). We estimated a significant negative association (P <  0.001) between herd F. hepatica infection category an...
Source: Veterinary Parasitology - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research