Eosinophilia as a marker of resistance to Teladorsagia circumcincta in Scottish Blackface lambs

MJ Stear*, NG Henderson, A Kerr, QA McKellar, S Mitchell, C Seeley, SC Bishop

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Faecal egg counts and peripheral blood eosinophil counts were taken from Scottish Blackface lambs following natural, predominantly Teladorsagia circumcincta infection. Peripheral eosinophil concentrations were higher in animals with lower egg counts but only in lambs that were at least 3 months of age. The reduced egg counts were due to reduced fecundity, of T. circumcincta; there was no association with the number of adult T. circumcincta. Associations with the number of parasites from other species of gastrointestinal nematodes appeared to be neutral or favourable. Estimated heritabilities for eosinophil concentrations in 4- and 5-month-old lambs were 0.48+/-0.16 and 0.43+/-0.17, respectively. Therefore, under defined circumstances, eosinophil concentrations may be a useful indicator of resistance to predominantly, T. circumcincta infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)553-560
Number of pages8
JournalParasitology
Volume124
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2002

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • sheep
  • nematoda
  • Teladorsagia cirumcincta
  • eosinophil
  • marker
  • indicator trait
  • OSTERTAGIA-CIRCUMCINCTA
  • GENETIC-CONTROL
  • NEMATODE INFECTION
  • TRICHOSTRONGYLUS-COLUBRIFORMIS
  • HAEMONCHUS-CONTORTUS
  • YOUNG LAMBS
  • WORM LENGTH
  • EGG COUNTS
  • SHEEP
  • SELECTION

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