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Summer is certainly on the way. Temperatures are up and in many regions across the country rainfall is down.
As users of this site, we all acknowledge that parasites and research into their control is of paramount importance. It was therefore pleasing to see the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine awarded for the development avermectin (the parent of ivermectin) and artemisinin, drugs that are now instrumental in the control of roundworm diseases and malarial blood parasites of humans.
The precursors of these drugs were sourced from the natural environment: Avermectin from fungi in soil samples and Artemisinin from the wormwood bush, Artemisia annuanot A. absinthium typically grown in Australia. The impetus to develop these drugs was to better control resistant parasites and to delay further drug failure (see page 6). And these drugs are best used in combination with other drugs and non-drug strategies. Now that sounds like a WormBoss message!
by Bruce Watt, Regional Veterinarian, Central Tablelands Local Land Services, Bathurst NSW
Liver fluke infestation is a widespread problem for sheep, cattle and goat producers in the NSW Central Tablelands. We know from on-farm surveys and from abattoir surveillance that at least 80% of Central Tablelands properties have fluke. >> Read more.
by Deb Maxwell, ParaBoss Operations Manager
The marketability of Australian wool will be dependent on progress made toward a breech strike resistant national flock. >> Read more.
by Deb Maxwell, ParaBoss Operations Manager
Whether you’ve long had a lice-free flock and haven’t treated for many years or you’ve recently treated your sheep, hoping to eradicate lice, the threat of lice is ever present. >> Read more.
by Maxine Murphy, ParaBoss News Editor
Eperythrozoonosis (ep-pur-rith-ro-zo-on-nosis) is the disease produced by the bacterium Mycoplasma ovis. M. ovis inhabits red blood cells of sheep and causes their destruction leading to anaemia, jaundice, and in heavy infections, deaths of susceptible sheep. >> Read more.
This 3-question quick quiz tests your knowledge of sheep parasites and their control.
>> Take the quiz.
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