Santosh George*

Alumni - Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

*Corresponding Author: Alumni - Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.

Received: September 13, 2021; Published: September 23, 2021

  Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), namely Ascaris spp. (roundworm), Trichuris spp. (whipworm) and Ancylostoma spp. (hookworm) are parasitic worms that infect both animals and humans. Conventionally, the identification of STH species in animals have relied on coprological or post-mortem examination of the adult worms to identify morphological differences across various species. STH species have also been identified based on egg size (Trichuris spp. [1], Hookworm [2]). Misdiagnosis, on the other hand, might arise due to a mismatch in egg size across species. In recent years, the focus of diagnostics on the veterinary side has shifted from merely detecting the presence/absence of infection, to detecting its influence on productivity., in terms of reduced growth, cost of control (anthelminthics), increased risk of co-infection and potential interference with vaccination. An early sensitive and accurate diagnosis can therefore aid in targeted and accurate treatment, reducing economic losses.

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Citation

Citation: Santosh George. “Need for Improved Diagnostics to Screen for Soil-transmitted Helminths". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 4.1 (2022): 67-69.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Santosh George. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.