Studies with Ostertagia circumcincta in Sheep. I. The epidemiology of mature adults and arrested larvae

Abstract

By means of egg counts, faecal cultures and post-mortem examinations of sheep the course of an infestation of Ostertagia circumcincta was followed from March until the following January in a flock of 100 twelve-months-old wethers at Wellington, N.S.W. The highest adult infestations and egg counts occurred in March and January, while during the winter months there was a continual accumulation of inhibited fourth stage larvae in the abomasal mucosa. The data suggest that the adult population observed in January arose from the inhibited population observed during the previous winter and that one of the factors controlling the development of the inhibited population was larval intake.