Delivery of rapid diagnostic tests for sustainable control of parasitic diseases in sheep and cattle

Diseases caused by a range of parasites have a devastating impact on the health, welfare and productivity of sheep and cattle. Infections affect milk production, weight gain of young animals and in some cases, can cause acute disease and rapid death.
To avoid the devastating consequences of parasitic infection, farmers use medicines to prevent disease. However resistance to many of these medicines is developing, meaning they are becoming less effective on many farms. To try and prevent further development and spread of resistance, through industry advisory bodies such as Control of Parasites Sustainably (COWS) and Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) recommend diagnosing infection before animals are treated. However in many cases we lack diagnostic tests that can provide rapid results to guide treatment.
The aim of this project is to develop and deliver pen-side tests, that farmers can use and that provide diagnostic information within 10 minutes. We will build on existing work, in which we have produced a lateral flow test to diagnose infection with the parasite, liver fluke. We will work with farmers, vets and animal health advisors, to ensure that pen-side tests are produced and delivered to meet farmers' needs and empower them to take decisions about treatment, supported by decision support systems.
In addition to developing a lateral flow test for liver fluke, we will also work on a similar lateral flow test for bovine lungworm, a devastating and acute disease of calves and increasingly adult milking cows.
We will evaluate the use of recombinant proteins as the basis for both lateral flow tests and working with a leading biotechnology we will produce proof of principal lateral flow tests, based on recombinant proteins. The architecture of both tests will be based on our existing, first generation liver fluke test.
The project will deliver a better understanding of how to encourage the industry to adopt rapid diagnostic tests as they become available. It will demonstrate how results from those tests can be interpreted in a manner that suits most farmers and finally it will deliver a second generation liver fluke lateral flow test and a lungworm diagnostic test to a point where a commercial partner can consider taking them to full commercialisation. The results from the project will be delivered t project partticipants in the first instance and then rolled out to the industry through KE programmes supported by our project partners.

Parasitic diseases are identified in the top five diseases of most concern to livestock farmers in the UK. Anthelmintics are the mainstay of helminth control in UK, traditionally used at specific times of year, treating whole management groups each time, typically in the absence of any diagnosis. As a result, resistance to anthelmintics is widespread. To avoid further evolution and spread of resistance, a reduction in anthelmintic use is required which means treating only if and when there is a parasite burden great enough to threaten health or productivity. Diagnostics are vital to guide this decision making

The overarching aims of this application are firstly to establish how to effectively and successfully deliver rapid, on-farm diagnostic tests to the industry in a way that RDTs are taken up widely, applied and interpreted correctly to ensure their use is sustainable. We will use a liver fluke lateral flow assay as a test case and work with farmers, vets and animal health advisors (RAMA/SQPs), to co-develop what a final product should look like to meet the industry's needs. We will also involve stakeholders to co-develop a digital platform to aid interpretation of results and empower farmers and vets to make the right treatment decisions. Secondly we will build on our knowledge and experience around the development of the first generation liver fluke lateral flow test,, exploiting outputs from our current research, to develop a two new rapid diagnostic tests, one for bovine lungworm and a second-generation liver fluke test based on a cocktail of recombinant antigens.