Assessment of mean oocyst count in groups of kids: litter, individual randomized and non-randomized fecal samplings.
A trial was conducted in six pens of kids visited five times monthly to compare different regimes of fecal sampling in order to assess average coccidial infection at a group level. In addition to individual fecal samplings of all the kids in the pen, giving the actual mean oocyst count, three sampling methods were performed: (i) individual sampling of three, five, seven, ten, 15, 20 or more animals according to the numbers of animals in the pen; (ii) sampling of feces in the litter; (iii) individual sampling of six kids, three with the poorest and three with the highest daily weight gain. Results indicated that drawing a random sample of ten kids was necessary to obtain a good estimation, with an accuracy of 25% in more than 90% of pens. Sampling of feces in the litter and individual sampling of six kids selected on daily weight gain considerations gave accurate estimation of the actual mean oocyst counts except in the case of high levels of infection. Further investigations would be needed to assess the diagnostic value of such sampling techniques whatever the coccidial infection level.
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C.N.E.V.A., Station Régionale de Pathologie Caprine, Niort, France.
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D006041:Goats; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012307:Risk Factors