Avaliação da técnica de FLOTAC® na recuperação de larvas infectantes (L3) de estrongilídeos parasitos de equinos na pastagem

Abstract

Brazil has the largest herd of horses in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world. However, despite this large population, there are still few studies on the ecology and epidemiology of parasitic nematodes of horses in pasture. In this context, knowledge of the degree of contamination of pastures is very useful for epidemiological purposes. In this way, the risk of infection of the animals can be determined and data can be provided for the establishment of appropriate management strategies. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the FLOTAC technique in the recovery of infective larvae (L3) from gastrointestinal helminths of equines in pasture and to compare with the techniques of Spontaneous sedimentation and Centrifugal sedimentation. For this, 300 samples of grass were analyzed and compared by the techniques proposed above. All the techniques used in this study were able to detect larvae of gastrointestinal parasites of horses in the pasture. The FLOTAC technique is more effective in this detection. The main parasites recovered belonged to the subfamilies Cyathostominae and Strongylinae. For comparison purposes, the kappa index was determined, and sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and precision were also calculated. This study is the first report of the use of the FLOTAC technique for recovery of larvae in the pasture. Considering the results obtained, the FLOTAC technique was more appropriate than the other techniques used to recover larvae in the pasture.