Can liver fluke affect horses?

Liver fluke is a common cause of disease in cattle and sheep but can also infect other grazing animals, including horses, donkeys, deer and rabbits. Horses frequently graze the same pastures as sheep and cattle but are thought to be relatively resistant to liver fluke infection.

How do you treat liver flukes in horses?

TREATMENT OF LIVER FLUKE There are no drugs for liver fluke currently approved for use in horses. The only way to treat an infection is for medication to be prescribed off licence by a vet.

What are the symptoms of liver fluke in animals?

What are common symptoms?

• Condemnation of livers.
• Reduced liveweight gains through reduced feed conversion efficiency.
• Reduced milk yields.
• Reduced fertility.
• Anaemia.
• Diarrhoea.
• In severe (but few) cases – death.

How do you treat a liver fluke infection?

It’s possible to eradicate liver flukes completely. An infection will usually be treated with a drug called triclabendazole. It’s given orally, usually in one or two doses, and most people respond well to this treatment. A short course of corticosteroids is sometimes prescribed for acute phases with severe symptoms.

What causes liver fluke in horses?

Fasciolosis is a condition caused by the parasitic trematode, Fasciola hepatica, otherwise known as liver fluke. It is a common cause of disease in grazing ruminants and is widespread throughout the UK. Liver fluke can also infect other grazing animals, including horses, donkeys deer and rabbits.

What causes liver disease horses?

Ragwort poisoning is thought to be the most common cause of liver disease in horses. Although ragwort is most commonly consumed by horses turned out on very sparse pasture, it is much more palatable when dried in hay.

What causes liver problems in horses?

Liver disease in mature horses is most often caused by exposure to toxic plants or feed toxins, infection, or bile stones. Horses can occasionally develop serious liver disease after treatment with products produced from horse blood, such as plasma or tetanus antitoxin.

What is the life cycle of liver fluke?

Following ingestion, the young flukes migrate to the liver, through which they tunnel, causing considerable tissue damage. The infection is patent about 10-12 weeks after the metacercariae are ingested. The whole cycle takes 18-20 weeks.

How is liver fluke spread?

Liver flukes cannot be spread from person to person. Instead, people and animals get infected with liver flukes by eating contaminated fish or drinking contaminated water.

Which disease is caused by liver fluke?

Fascioliasis is an infectious disease caused by Fasciola parasites, which are flat worms referred to as liver flukes. The adult (mature) flukes are found in the bile ducts and liver of infected people and animals, such as sheep and cattle.

How does a horse get tapeworms?

Tapeworm eggs are passed in the manure of infected horses onto pasture, where forage mites ingest them. The immature tapeworm develops within the body cavity of the mite and is ingested by the grazing horse.