- Title
- Application of molecular diagnostic methods for the detection and quantification of Fasciola hepatica infection in cattle faecal samples
- Creator
- Thakur, Sameer
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Thesis; Masters
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/176666
- Identifier
- vital:15166
- Abstract
- Fasciola hepatica, commonly known as liver fluke, is a globally distributed trematode causing significant production losses in ruminant livestock. Due to reduced drug efficacy, there is a need for appropriate diagnostic tools, which would allow alternative management practices to be developed and minimize economic losses. The traditional ‘gold standard’ method for diagnosis, faecal egg count (FEC), is associated with low sensitivity when diagnosing F. hepatica infection in livestock using faecal samples. The present study aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the molecular diagnostic methods [conventional PCR (cPCR), Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) and quantitative real time PCR (qPCR)] with the conventional diagnostic method FEC, for detecting F. hepatica infection using cattle faecal samples. Faecal samples were collected from 94 experimentally-infected cattle 12 weeks post infection and 40 faecal samples were collected from cattle with no previous history of F. hepatica infection, as a comparative control. The sensitivity of conventional PCR, LAMP and qPCR was 86.2%, 87.2% and 96.8% respectively, which was similar to the faecal egg count (97.9%). While the specificity of all the molecular methods were 97.5%, and for FEC the specificity was 100%. The potential advantage of these molecular diagnostic tests, with further development, suggest they may be a viable alternative diagnostic test when compared to FEC. In addition, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the potential use of a commercial snail trap in catching and detecting the intermediate host of F. hepatica in irrigated farmland, as an alternative management strategy. However, under the parameters tested in these experiments, the use of commercial snail traps to catch the intermediate host of F. hepatica from farm irrigation channels was shown to be ineffective.; Masters by Research
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright Sameer Thakur
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- Fasciola hepatica; Faeces; Molecular diagnosis
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Piedrafita, David
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