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Horse Trust to Fund Worm Resistance Research
The Horse Trust has awarded £60,000 to the Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine to investigate why horses are becoming resistant to modern-day wormers.
Intestinal worms are found in all breeds of horses throughout the world. Poor
management, when horses graze heavily worm-infested pastures and are not treated
with appropriate wormers, frequently causes serious damage to the intestinal wall
resulting in diarrhoea, weight loss, colic and death.
Paul Jepson, Chief Executive and Veterinary Director of the Trust said: "Modern
wormers can be very effective but their widespread use and owners‚ failure to
switch regularly between wormers with different active ingredients has resulted
in the worms developing resistance to these medicines."
The research aims to identify the genes in intestinal worms that enable the worms
to become resistant to the latest generation of wormers. This knowledge will provide
a springboard to the long-term aim of developing a practical test to detect resistance
before undertaking treatment.
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Strongyle Worm |
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