Abstract
Helminth infections, mainly by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN), are one of the main concerns for animal health, welfare and productivity in grazing ruminant livestock worldwide. The use of a sensitive, precise, accurate, low-cost, and easy-to-perform copromicroscopic technique is of pivotal importance to perform reliable fecal egg count (FEC) and fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT), in order to determine the need of anthelmintic treatment, but also anthelmintic efficacy or resistance. This approach is fundamental to a correct and efficient control of GIN. Unfortunately, in worldwide ruminant farm practice, repeated anthelmintic treatments are carried out, without prior diagnosis of infection, contributing to the spread of Anthelmintic Resistance (AR). Tackling this phenomenon, improving mainly the GIN diagnosis and AR status in farm animals, is a priority of the European COST Action “COMBAR—COMBatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants” and of the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health. One of the specific objectives of the COMBAR Working Group 1 (WG1) is to conduct an European market analysis of new diagnostics and develop a business plan for commercial test introduction, leveraging technical know-how of participants. Since the Mini-FLOTAC in combination with the Fill-FLOTAC may be considered a good candidate for a standardized FEC and FECRT in the laboratory, as well as directly in the field, the aim of this study was to conduct SWOT (Strength—Weaknesses—Opportunities—Threats) and PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) analyses of these tools in 20 European countries involved in the COMBAR WG1, in order to identify the opportunities, barriers, and challenges that might affect the Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC commercialization in Europe.
Highlights
Helminth infections, mainly by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN), are one of the main concerns for animal health, welfare and productivity in grazing ruminant livestock worldwide [1, 2]
As reported in the SWOT analysis the Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC show many strengths and opportunities, the main barriers for their commercialization could be related to: (i) political factors, [i.e., in United Kingdom (UK), the postBrexit import regulations]; (ii) economic, social, and technological factors connected to farmers and veterinarians, because there is a general disinformation or incorrect training, in many countries there is an inclination to prefer blind treatments vs. diagnosis; (iii) environmental factors are not a limit, because the diagnosis can counteract the indiscriminate use of anthelmintics; (iv) legal factors are not so relevant, because helminth infections do not fall under the regulated diseases
It is very important to create a network among stakeholders, policy makers, small and medium enterprises, universities and national public research institutes, that acts at the national and European level to get the attention of governments, legislates, veterinarians, farmers, and animal associations on the importance of investing in new efficient and effective diagnostic methods for livestock helminth infections
Summary
Mainly by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN), are one of the main concerns for animal health, welfare and productivity in grazing ruminant livestock worldwide [1, 2]. The control of GIN is usually carried out using repeated and sometimes blind anthelmintic treatments, without prior diagnosis of infection This approach has contributed to the spread of anthelmintic resistance (AR) which is reported worldwide in multiple GIN species, especially in sheep, against all commercially available anthelmintic classes [3,4,5,6,7]. Tackling this phenomenon is a priority of the European COST Action “COMBAR—COMBatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants” (https://www.combar-ca.eu/) and of the STARIDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health (https://www.star-idaz.net/). The use of reliable, low-cost, easy-toperform fecal egg count (FEC) methods is of pivotal importance to quantify GIN eggs in fecal samples, in order to determine the need of anthelmintic treatment, anthelmintic efficacy or resistance, through the widely used fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) [7]
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