Liver Fluke, Rumen Fluke and Lungworm

Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica)

Liver fluke is carried by the mud snail and picked up on wet pasture. It affects sheep, cattle and goats, and can cause weight loss, poor production, anaemia and sudden death in sheep. Our fluke egg test uses sedimentation to find fluke eggs in faeces. Eggs are only shed by adult flukes, around 10 to 12 weeks after infection, and they are shed intermittently, so a negative result does not rule out fluke. In the autumn, immature flukes cause damage before any eggs appear, so speak to your vet if you suspect acute fluke.

Rumen fluke (Calicophoron daubneyi)

Rumen fluke uses the same mud snail host. The adults live in the rumen and are often harmless in cattle and sheep, although heavy burdens of immature flukes in the gut can cause scouring in young animals. Rumen fluke eggs look very like liver fluke eggs but are paler and clearer, and they are reported separately. The same test finds both.

Lungworm

Lungworm larvae are found with the Baermann test, which needs fresh faeces. In cattle, Dictyocaulus viviparus ("husk") causes coughing and breathlessness, mainly in calves at grass in late summer and autumn. Sheep and goats can carry Dictyocaulus filaria and Muellerius. In cattle, sheep and goats, lungworm is not found on a standard worm count because larvae, not eggs, pass in the faeces. Pigs carry a different lungworm, Metastrongylus, picked up from earthworms. It sheds eggs rather than larvae, so the Baermann test is not suitable for pigs. Speak to your vet if a pig is coughing.

When to test

• Fluke: late autumn to winter, and again in spring, on land that is wet or where animals have grazed fluke areas
• Lungworm: when animals are coughing, especially cattle in late summer and autumn
• New purchases: test before they join the herd or flock
• After treatment: check that fluke eggs or larvae have cleared

Taking the sample

Collect fresh faeces, ideally from that morning, from several animals in the group. Use the pot and gloves in the kit, keep the sample cool, seal it and post it Monday to Wednesday. For lungworm the sample must be fresh, so post it the same day.