1. Parasites of Goats By
Page Bishop

2. Parasites
It is important to realize that each region of the country will have different parasite problems and potentially different prevention/treatment programs. Therefore, it is important to involve a local veterinarian in all parasite control programs. Proper nutrition is of extreme importance in the control of the effects of parasitism. Animals in good condition and receiving adequate feed are often able to establish some resistance to internal parasites. Poorly fed animals are unable to cope with parasitism, and death losses are often great. Parasitic disease problems increase with intensification of production and lack of attention to strict sanitation.
In general, parasites can be broken into two major categories: internal parasites (endoparasites) and external parasites (ectoparasites). Each parasite is then further classified into additional groups according to their structure, growth, and life cycles.

3. Internal Parasites
Internal parasites may be divided into four (4) classifications:
Roundworms - (Nematodes)
Tapeworms - (Cestodes)
Flukes - (Trematodes)
Protozoa - (Coccidia)

4. Roundworms - (Nematodes)
The roundworms are by far the most economically important internal parasites of goats. Flukes produce damage of economic importance in some geographic areas, while adult tapeworms are usually of minor importance.

5. Roundworms - (Nematodes)
Large stomach worm, barber pole worm, twisted worm - Haemonchus
Brown stomach worm - Ostertagia
Stomach/intestinal hairworm, small stomach worm – Trichostrongylus
Thread-necked worm - Nematodirus
Hookworm - Bonostomum
Nodular worm – Oesophagostomum
Large-mouthed bowel worm – Chabertia
Whipworm - Trichuris
Large lungworm - Dictyocaulus filaria
Cooperia
Strongyloides

6. Large stomach worm, barber pole worm, twisted worm - Haemonchus
Description: Internal parasite. Adults are 10 – 30 mm long. Males are shorter than females and have an even, reddish color and a bursa with an asymmetrical dorsal lobe and barbed spicules. Females are identified as barber’s pole worms because their white ovaries are wound around their red blood-filled intestine.
Life Cycle: Eggs laid by adults in the abomasum are passed in the feces and hatch on the ground. On pasture they undergo a typical series of molts, becoming infective in about 4 – 6 days. Cattle then ingest the larvae, beginning the infection. Fertile adults appear in approximately 28 days, but it is important to note that signs of the disease can appear sooner because larvae and immature adults, as well as fertile adults, suck blood.

7. Brown stomach worm - Ostertagia
Description: Internal parasite. Before the larval forms are ingested, their development in the environment may have been arrested by hypobiosis, a survival mechanism in which the preparasitic stages on-pasture "avoid" adverse summer and winter conditions. Ostertagia is one of the most economically significant parasites of cattle.
Life Cycle: Adults in the abomasum lay eggs that pass in feces. Once hatched, larvae undergo two molds to become infective third-stage larvae which migrate onto herbage and are ingested by grazing cattle. Once ingested, these parasitic larvae grow and molt twice more to become egg-laying adults. The prepatent period is days, though hypobiosis affects the process.

8. Stomach/intestinal hairworm, small stomach worm – Trichostrongylus
Description: The adult worm is small (0.5 centimeter long) and hair like.
Predilection sites: Stomach glands, small intestine.
Geographic distribution: Widespread in the US.
Life cycle: Trichostrongylus axei has a direct life cycle typical of nematodes. Larvae develop to infectivity on pasture in 4 to 6 days under optimal conditions of temperature and humidity.
Significance: The stomach hairworm is important primarily in contributing to burdens of mixed worm species.
Clinical effects on host: Trichostrongylus is usually part of a mixed infection, so its results are additive. The hairworm irritates and erodes the villi of the gut, damaging the capillaries and lymph vessels within these structures and causing blood loss into the gut. Parasite-induced trauma to the intestinal lining results in characteristic dark, foul-smelling diarrhea. Blood loss can cause anemia, edema, and rapid loss of condition.
Diagnosis: Larvae can be identified by fecal culture – the small egg is not identifiable by species.

9. Thread-necked worm - Nematodirus
Description: Internal parasite. Adults are up to 25 mm long.
Life Cycle: Eggs develop slowly; the infective third stage is reached within the egg in 2 – 4 weeks and may remain within the egg for several months. Eggs are highly resistant, and those passed by calves in one season can infect calves the next. After ingestion of infective larvae, the adult stage is reached in approximately 3 weeks.
Geographic Distribution: Worldwide.
Significance: Heavy infections of Nematodirus can lead to decreased weight gain, particularly when other parasites are present. Larval stages are primarily responsible for harming the host animal. Large numbers of larvae can retard an animal’s growth and even cause destruction of the intestinal wall.

10. Hookworm - Bonostomum
Anterior end is bent toward its back. The mouth is cup-shaped and has two cutting plates. Males are mm long; females are mm
Can cause anemia, edema, and general unthriftiness. Symptoms are generally similar to those of the stomach worm. Adult worms attach to the intestinal wall and suck blood. Bleeding often continues even after the parasite is gone.

11. Nodular worm – Oesophagostomum
Description: Internal parasite. Adult worms are stout bodied and 14 – 22 mm long.
Life Cycle: Adults in the intestine lay eggs which are passed in feces. Larvae pass through a series of molts and reach the infective third stage in approximately 7 days. When ingested with herbage, the larvae penetrate the wall of the host animal’s intestine, forming nodules anywhere between the stomach and the rectum. After 5 – 7 days they return to the intestinal lumen and travel to the colon, where they undergo a final molt and mature into adults. Eggs appear in the feces about 41 days after the larvae are ingested.
Geographic Distribution: Worldwide, particularly in wet, temperate climates.
Significance: Infective larvae burrow into the intestinal wall, causing the formation of pea-sized nodules called granulomas. Granulomas impair intestinal function, particularly fluid absorption. The result is black, foul diarrhea which is very debilitating. The disease oesophagostomiasis is characterized by anemia and edema in addition to the explosive diarrhea. When worms are present in large numbers. Young stock in particular are affected seriously and can die.

12. Large-mouthed bowel worm – Chabertia
General Description: Nematodes with a large oral opening. Males are 13 to 14mm long, females, 17 to 20mm.
Life Cycle: Direct life cycle. Infection by ingestion of infective third stage larvae. Prepatent period is about 48 to 54 days.
Location: Colon
Geographical Distribution: Worldwide
Significance: Chabertia is significant only in heavily infected sheep. Reduced wool growth is the major result.
Effect on Host: Adults ingest plugs of the bowel wall; some bleeding may occur. The affected part of the intestine is mildly irritated. Anaemia may occur when severe infections exist. Replacement of tissue and blood lost to parasites limits the energy the host may otherwise use for wool growth. Occasional diarrhoea may be seen.
Diagnostic Information: Strongyle-type eggs appear in faeces.
Control: Treatment of infected sheep with a suitable anthelmintic.

13. Whipworm - Trichuris
Description: Internal parasites. Long roundworms; the anterior part is long and thin while the posterior is much thicker, giving the appearance of a whip. The male posterior is curved.
Life Cycle: Infective larvae develop within eggs after at least 3 weeks on pasture. The eggs are resistant to cold temperatures and dry conditions, and can therefore remain infective for years. Cattle become infected by ingesting embryonated eggs. Adults develop in 1 – 3 months.
Geographic Distribution: Widespread.
Significance: The effects of whipworm infection have not been determined, as affected animals exhibit clinical signs only occasionally. Those that do, experience typical "parasite worry“ and do not feed or sleep well. Scratching may produce skin wounds or bruises, and the coat becomes rough. Infestations with biting lice are heaviest in winter when cattle hair coats are thick.

14. Large lungworm - Dictyocaulus filaria
White with a dark line running the full length of the worm. Length of males are 3 to 8 cm and females range from 5 to 10 cm.
Accumulation of adult worms and eggs can occur in the airways and cause obstruction. This can cause the lung tissue to collapse. Suffocation can then occur. Animals can show a symptoms by coughing and having difficulty breathing.

15. Cooperia
Cooperia species are nematodes of the small intestine of ruminants. Species in domestic animals are usually 5-9mm long and males have a prominent bursa in relation to their size. Cooperia curticei is easily recognized on microscopic examination by its coiled appearance that has been described as like a "watch spring", as shown in the accompanying image of a female.
Cooperia are generally considered to be mild pathogens. They contribute secondary effects to the primary pathogens Ostertagia and Haemonchus in parasitic gastroenteritis. However, Cooperia punctata, pectinata and suranabada are believed to be more pathogenic since they penetrate the mucosa during larval development causing changes similar to those of intestinal species of Trichostrongylus

16. Strongyloides
Strongyloides stercoralis is an unusual "parasite" in that it has both free-living and parasitic life cycles.  In the parasitic life cycle, female worms are found in the superficial tissues of the human small intestine; there are apparently no parasitic males.  The female worms produce larvae parthenogenically (without fertilization), and the larvae are passed in the host's feces.  The presence of nematode larvae in a fecal sample is characteristic of strongylodiasis.  Once passed in the feces, some of the larvae develop into "free-living" larvae, while others develop into "parasitic" larvae.  The "free-living" larvae will complete their development in the soil and mature into free-living males and females.  The free-living males and females mate, produce more larvae, and (as above) some of these larvae will develop into "free-living" larvae, while other will develop into "parasitic larvae."

17. Tapeworms Broad tapeworm - Moniezia expansa
Fringed tapeworm - Thysanosoma actinioides
Hydatid cysts - Echinococcus granulosus
Cysticercosis - Taenia ovis
Taenia hydatigena
Gid - Taenia multiceps

18. Broad tapeworm - Moniezia expansa
The life cycle of Moniezia expansa involves sheep as the definitive host and soil mites as the intermediate host.  The tapeworm's eggs are passed in the sheep's feces, and mites are infected when they eat the eggs; the metacestode stage in the mite is called a cysticercoid.  Sheep are infected when then ingest infected mites. This species of tapeworm is unusual in that each proglottid contains two sets of female reproductive organs

19. Fringed tapeworm - Thysanosoma actinioides
Definitive hosts: ruminants
Site of infection: small intestine Typical size: up to 30 cm long
Distribution: cosmopolitan
Intermediate hosts: cysticercoids develop in psocid lice; these lice are ingested along with vegetation

20. Hydatid cysts - Echinococcus granulosus
The life cycle of Echinococcus granulosus includes dogs (and other canines) as the definitive host, and a variety of species of warm blooded vertebrates (sheep, cattle, goats, and humans) as the intermediate host.  The adult worms are very small, usually consisting of only three proglottids (total length = 3-6 mm), and they live in the dog's small intestine.  Eggs are liberated in the host's feces, and when these eggs are ingested by the intermediate host they hatch in the host's small intestine.  The larvae in the eggs penetrate the gut wall and enter the circulatory system.  The larvae can be distributed throughout the intermediate host's body (although most end up in the liver) and grow into a stage called a hydatid cyst.

21. Cysticercosis - Taenia ovis

22. Taenia hydatigena
The life cycle of the Taenia tapeworm starts in the host’s intestine, the host being a dog or cat. The worm can be unbelievably long (up to 5 yards for Taenia hydatigena) and is made of segments. Each segment contains an independent set of organs with new segments being created at the neck and older segments dropping off the tail. As segments mature, the reproductive tract of the segment becomes more and more prominent until it consists of a bag of tapeworm eggs. These segments, called proglottids, are passed with the feces into the world where an unsuspecting intermediate host (mouse, rabbit, deer, goat etc.) swallows one while feeding.

23. Gid - Taenia multiceps
The life cycle of this parasite involves warm blood vertebrates as both the intermediate and definitive hosts.
Infections with cenuri can cause pathology in the intermediate host.  Human infections (acquired by accidental ingestion of eggs) have been reported.  The cenuri of T. multiceps (sometimes called Cenurus cerebralis) can infect the brains of sheep/goats, causing a disease referred to as "gid" or "staggers." These terms refer to the behavior of sheep/goats infected with this parasite.

24. Flukes - Trematodes
Common liver fluke - Fasciola hepatica

25. Flukes - Trematodes
The common name of this parasite, the "sheep liver fluke," is somewhat misleading since this parasite is found in animals other than sheep (including cattle and humans), and the parasite resides in the bile ducts inside the liver rather than the liver itself.  This species is a common parasite of sheep and cattle and, therefore, relatively easy to obtain.  Thus, in introductory biology or zoology courses, it is often used as "THE" example of a digenetic trematode.  This species has been studied extensively by parasitologists, and probably more is known about this species of digenetic trematode than any other. The adult parasites reside in the intrahepatic bile ducts, produce eggs, and the eggs are passed in the host's feces.  After passing through the first intermediate host (a snail), cercariae encyst on vegetation.  The definitive host is infected when it eats the contaminated vegetation.  The metacercaria excysts in the definitive host's small intestine, and the immature worm penetrates the small intestine and migrates through the abdominal cavity to the host's liver.  The juvenile worm penetrates and migrates through the host's liver and finally ends up in the bile ducts (view a diagram of the life-cycle).  The migration of the worms through the host's liver, and the presence of the worms in the bile ducts, are responsible for the pathology associated with fascioliasis.

26. Flukes - Trematodes

27. Protozoa - Coccidia
Coccidia (coccidiosis) - Eimeria

28. Protozoa - Coccidia
The diseases caused by these parasites are referred to collectively as coccidiosis, and they vary tremendously in virulence.  Some species cause diseases that result in mild symptoms that might go unnoticed (i.e., mild diarrhea) and eventually disappear, while other species cause highly virulent infections that are rapidly fatal.

29. Protozoa - Coccidia
A host is infected when it ingests oocysts that have been passed in the feces of another host.  The oocyst excysts in the host's small intestine, and the sporozoites contained within the oocyst are liberated.  The sporozoites penetrate the cells of the host's small intestine and reproduce asexually.  Each generation of asexual reproduction produces multiple merozoites; the merozoites are liberated from the cell and infect new cells.  It is this stage of the infection that can result in destruction of massive numbers of cells in the host's small intestine and, ultimately, lead to the host's death.  Some of the merozoites that enter the host's cells transform into gametocytes.  The gametocytes transform into gametes, the gametes fuse, and the resulting zygote begins to develop into an oocyst.  The developing oocyst escapes from the host's cell, and it is passed in the host's feces.  Typically, when the oocyst is passed in the feces, it is not infective because it does not contain sporozoites; this is an unsporulated oocyst.  After several days (or weeks, depending on the species) outside of the host's body, the oocyst completes development and sporozoites are found within; this is a sporulated oocyst, and it is infective to the next host

30. Protozoa - Coccidia
A severe coccidiosis infection in a small animal

31. Diagnosis of Internal Parasites
Most of these infections can be detected using a fecal egg count. This is done by collecting a fecal sample and sending it to a local veterinarian for fecal flotation.
Pictured (left) is the procedure for preparing a fecal flotation.  To perform the test, mix about 1 gram of feces thoroughly with water (about 15ml).  Strain the mixture to remove the larger debris, and then centrifuge for five minutes or let stand for twenty minutes.  Next, pour off the supernatant and mix the sediment with sugar water.  Place a coverslip on the top of the centrifuge tube, in contact with the sugar meniscus, and repeat centrifugation for another five minutes.  Then place the coverslip on a slide and examine for parasite eggs or oocysts.  The species of the parasite found will determine the extent of the clinical significance.

32. Treatment/Prevention
To stop intestinal worms from accumulating, do not use the same pastures for kidding every year.
Rotate pastures used for grazing every 3-6 months.
If clean grazing such as stubble is available, goats should be given an effective broad spectrum de-wormer before they are moved on to it.
If possible, all animals that are de-wormed should be held in a dry lot for at least 3 days. This is because most de-wormers do not kill the parasite eggs, just the adults worms. Waiting 3 days will help the animal eliminate most of the parasite eggs in the dry lot and not on pasture where other animals may ingest the eggs.
Prevent the post-kidding rise in parasite egg production.
Have a veterinarian perform a fecal egg count to check the effectiveness of any de-worming or parasite control programs. This should be done days after de-worming. Use these fecal egg counts to determine whether goats need additional de-wormings.
Avoid resistance problems by not using the same products year after year.
Select for animals that are parasite-resistant. These are goats that have a natural resistance to internal parasites. These animals are often identified through the use of fecal egg counts.

33. De-worming Program for Internal Parasites
In colder climates where the animals are moved off of pasture for the winter, a dose can be given just before the move is made.
A second time for de-worming occurs 1 month prior to the kidding season. De-worming does about 2-4 weeks before kidding and then moving them to a safe pasture, will prevent the rise in production of worm eggs after kidding. If the does are not moved after this dose, additional doses are required at 3 week intervals throughout the kidding season. The final dose should be given 2-4 weeks after the last kid is born.
A de-wormer for kids at weaning should also be given. After the de-worming, the kids should be moved to a "safe" pasture.
Breeding males are often de-wormed 1 month before the breeding season

34. Products Used to Treat Internal Parasites:
*Ivomec Sheep Drench (Ivermectin)
*Tramisol or Levasole (Levamisole)
*Bovatec (Lasalocid Sodium)
*Rumensin (Monensin
*Corid (Amprolium)
*Dectomax (Doramectin)
*Valbazen (Albendazole)
*Panacur (Fenbendazole)
* Many of these products are not labeled for use in goats. Their use in these cases is considered "extra-label."