Internal parasite community and epidemiology of parasitic infections in working horses, Romania

Abstract

Equine gastrointestinal parasites, and particular helminthes, are ubiquitous. Horses that graze contaminated pasture can burden large numbers of parasites which can lead to serious clinical disease. The aim of the present study was to describe the parasite community and epidemiology of intestinal parasitic infections in working horses in Romania. For this, a total number of 459 working horses originated from 38 villages belonging to 18 counties in Northeastern, Center, and Southeastern Romania were included in the study. Horses were allocated by age and gender category. Fresh fecal samples were collected from individual horses and analyzed qualitatively for the presence of intestinal parasites using sodium chloride flotation technique and quantitatively for fecal worm eggs counts, described as the number of eggs per gram (EPG) of feces, using a modified McMaster technique. 75.40% of working horses were positive for strongyle infection, followed by Parascaris equorum (7.40%), Eimeria leuckarti (7.20%), Strongyloides westeri (3.70%), and Anoplocephala spp. (2.61%). Young animals (of 1 to 5 years old) were the most infected category for all parasite species identified, except for Anoplocephala spp. for which animals over 10 years old were more frequent infected. Positive horses for strongyles were found in all villages and counties, respectively, where studies were performed. The positive horses for P. equorum, S. westeri, Anoplocephala spp., and E. leuckarti originated from 19 (50.00%), 13 (34.20%), 6 (15.80%), and 7 (18.40%) of villages, respectively, distributed in 11 (61.10%), 8 (44.40%), 3 (16.70%), and 5 (27.80%) counties, respectively. The results showed that strongyle infections are highly prevalent in Romanian working horses and provide further evidence that the parasite burden is influenced by age of horses and other factors, such as anthelmintic treatments of animals or degree of pasture hygiene. These findings represent a base for further studies to design sustainable control program of horse parasites.