Parasitic infections are a major concern for humans and animals worldwide but pose a particular threat to horses. Small burdens can be beneficial, and are common, but large burdens are associated with poor performance, gastroenteritis and in severe cases death. The overuse of outdated control methods has led to the development of widespread anthelmintic resistance. In this study, faecal samples were collected from 20 competition horses and 20 leisure horses kept around England. The faecal floatation method was used to identify parasites and assess the parasitic burden to investigate whether there was a difference in worming routines and resistance between the groups. The presence of Salmonella spp., was also tested to assess the correlation between parasite burden and bacterial infection. All horses carried some level of parasite burden, particularly from the strongyle species, but the competition horses had more significant burdens than the leisure horses. This reflects the differences in their managements and husbandry, with competition horse owners sticking to traditional methods and leisure horse owners opting for faecal egg count (FEC) methods. Likewise, competition horses are exposed to greater levels of stress than leisure horses; a factor which plays a role in the severity of parasite infection. Despite the burdens, there was no correlation between these and the presence of Salmonella spp., and so further research in this field is required. The concept of personalised medicine is one which needs to be implemented within the veterinary field, through the idea of continuously monitoring parasite levels using FEC and resistance testing. With no new anthelmintics being released, AR increasing, and a lack of education on FEC practices, research into prevention methods is crucial. There needs to be more focus on widespread FEC education paired with the shift to prescription only anthelmintics.
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