Species: Cattle, deer, horses

Specimen: Faeces (minimum 5g)

Container: Pottle

Collection protocol: Directly from rectum or freshly passed sample from clean surface.

Special handling/shipping requirements: Samples may be refrigerated if there is any delay in sending for analysis (e.g. over weekend).

General information about the disease:  

Dictyocaulus viviparus is a common and important cause of respiratory disease in cattle in cool seasonal climates. Calves in their first grazing season are most at risk, though clinical disease may occasionally occur in adult cattle that have had insufficient exposure to develop immunity. Clinical signs range from a soft husky cough to fatal dyspnoea. Adult nematodes inhabit the large bronchi. Eggs are embryonated when laid and hatch rapidly. First stage larvae are coughed up, swallowed, and expelled in the faeces. Dictyocaulus arnfieldi is mainly a lungworm of donkeys but is an occasional cause of chronic coughing in horses. Dictyocaulus eckerti causes lungworm disease in deer.

General information about when this test is indicated: Investigation of respiratory disease in farmed cattle and deer, horses and donkeys.