Busting The Jargon

Get to grips with some of the common terms used to explain worms and worm control with our HorseDialog jargon buster

Accurate dosing: Selecting the most appropriate wormer for the parasite targeted and dosing according to the weight of the horse. Accurate dosing helps to maintain the effectiveness of the wormers available.

Anthelmintic: a substance capable of destroying or eliminating parasitic worms.

Ascarid: the scientific name for a type of roundworm.

Cyathastomins: the scientific name for small redworms (also known as small strongyles). They are one of the most common and harmful worms found in horses.

Cyathastominosis: mass emergence of encysted small redworm (ESRW) can cause severe damage and inflammation to the gut lining resulting in the disease syndrome ‘larval cyathostomonisis’.

ESRW: encysted small redworm are the larval stages of the small redworm living inside the gut wall.

FWEC: faecal worm egg count. The number of worm eggs in the dung sample are measured and then reported as eggs per gram (epg). For a mature horse (>3yrs) the standard level requiring treatment is usually above 200epg depending on the horse’s worming history. It’s worth noting that if you receive the result <50epg (no eggs seen) this doesn’t guarantee that there were no eggs in the sample as only a very small sample is studied under the microscope. Encysted small redworm, tapeworm and bots will not show up in a standard FWEC.1 Specific antibody tests can show if encysted small redworm and tapeworm are present.2 Treatment maybe advised according to the results.

FECRT: faecal egg count reduction tests. This is a specific test to monitor the effectiveness of a wormer. They should be performed during the grazing season by taking an FWEC immediately before and two weeks after worming to assess the level of worm eggs being shed. It is important to follow specific guidelines when doing this and it is advisable to have veterinary supervision so that the results can be interpreted correctly.3