Two Centrifugal Flotation Techniques for Counting Gastrointestinal Parasite Eggs and Oocysts in Alpaca Faeces.

INTRODUCTION

The alpaca () is a camelid native to South America, but the species has wide distribution outside its natural habitat and is found in various countries on other continents, Poland being one in Europe. Parasitic infections affect the productivity and health of alpacas. The aim of the study was to estimate the parasite loads in alpacas kept in Poland with the use of two direct centrifugal flotation methods.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 248 faecal samples from alpacas from 12 provinces in Poland were examined for parasite eggs and oocysts with a modified Willis method (WM), and 59 samples were examined simultaneously with WM and a modified Stoll method (SM).

RESULTS

The WM detected eggs of Trichostrongylidae, and the SM oocysts of spp. as the respective most prevalent parasite material. The eggs of sp., , sp., and sp. were detected in lower numbers in both methods. Oocysts of and eggs of sp. were the rarest in WM, the former also being so in SM; eggs of were absent in SM. The prevalence of spp. was significantly higher as detected by SM than as detected by WM; however, the prevalence of eggs of spp. and trichostrongyles was significantly higher as detected by WM than as detected by SM.

CONCLUSION

WM is more accurate at detecting heavy gastro-intestinal nematode eggs, including those of trichostrongyles and , whereas SM is more accurate at detecting smaller coccidia from the genus .