Advances Techniques in The diagnosis of Helminthes of Livestock

Infection of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) with helminths includes the three main groups: nematodes, cestodes and trematodes. They are detected by using conventional methods either by direct smear method or floatation /sedimentation technique which are laborious, time consuming and exhibited low sensitivity. Currently, recent progress in new diagnostic tools has opened new avenues in helminths detection. The immunological techniques which include enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and its modifications were appropriate for such diagnosis. They showed high sensitivity and specificity for such diagnosis. In addition, progress in molecular technique provide the potential for more reliable and efficient methods for diagnosis of helminths infection. Molecular methods such as PCR (the polymerase chain reaction) , RLB (reverse line blotting), RT-PCR (real time- PCR), LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), and RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) can be used as specific and sensitive tools for accurate detection of parasites DNA. PCR-based methods can be joined with RFLP or nested PCR for parasites genotypic. These combined methods can give different technique for the specific pathogen detection in stool. As well as, detection of low number of helminth parasites in stool samples by PCR is considered useful due to the higher detection sensitivity of PCR comparing to light microscopy. Recently, LAMP technique is helpful in detection of many parasitic agents and it is considered a golden tool for detection of helminths. Also, RLB method is a suitable diagnostic tool to define the characters of species in mixed infection.