WormMail is an electronic mailing list I set up a number of years ago.(Subscription through http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/sheep/health/internal/worm-mail )

It is a vehicle for monthly WormFaxes (a round up of worm egg counting results around the state), Turning the Worm (a newsletter that in theory comes out 2-4 times a year – I haven’t forgotten you Dr Nilon), and occasional news items (1-3 times? a week).

Lately I have been posting most WormMails on a blog called ‘auswormblog’ at the WordPress site.

Some people have trouble accessing this due to their corporate set ups, although the I.T. people for most organisations are usually happy to allow access to individual blogs or sites on a case by case basis. For example Joedy Frape, IT guru for the LHPAs, kindly re-jigged things so District Vets could get access to auswormblog.

(The Qld DPI (now DEEDI) seems to be screwed down so tight that nothing gets in or out. (Sorry Maxine – perhaps some of your colleagues were spending too much time on Facebook) .

I was investigating ‘Posterous’ over the weekend -after reading this – and thought it may have a lot of potential. I set up one for personal use and so far am impressed with Posterous.

When items are posted on Posterous, they can also be automatically posted to other places (eg other blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc).

At the moment, I have set up Posterous (www.slagvet.posterous.com ..  maybe I should have called it ‘posturing’ ?) to auto-post to auswormblog and Twitter (slagvet).  

Is all this a pointless waste of time?  Maybe, but some people like to ‘communicate’ this, and some even like Twitter and similar things in the Status-sphere ( new word I learnt).

(In a similar fashion, there are people who gave up writing letters with ink and quill, and started using email. Maybe you are one of them?).

One advantage of having WormMail in the ‘blogosphere’ as well as in emails, is that you can easily go back and find things on a blog. (Blog is short for web-log).

The other thing I have to improve is how I manage the WormMail mailing list. Currently I do this in the email client (Lotus Notes) on my work computer. This can take up a fair bit of time because people leave jobs, change emails, get deported etc without telling me. Something like Google Groups may be a solution: I don’t know. (I don’t like the Listserv option much).

For those who have given me feedback (OK, the positive stuff is especially nice) – and let me know when they change addresses or want to unsubscribe –  a big thank you. It’s appreciated.

And a big thank you also to those who completed the WormBoss on-line survey and/or provided other feedback – on the new website for example (Yes, there are some problems).

But things change so fast: what will be ‘THE thing’ next week??  :-)

—
Stephen Love
Veterinarian / State coordinator ~ internal parasites
Primary Industries | Industry and Investment NSW
Armidale District Office | Tel: +61 2 6738 8519 | Useful links

   
If the above is all too much, you might like this:

Painting by Derek Bacon

From: http://garry.posterous.com/as-a-computer-user-dont-you-sometimes-feel-li   |   http://reflectionof.me/amazing-1011  

This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of their organisation.

The following article is by Dr Bruce Watt of Tablelands LHPA (central tablelands area of NSW) and is published here with permission.

(Hyperlinks added by blog owner).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABATTOIR MONITORING NOW REPORTING ON A RANGE OF SHEEP DISEASES

In the last few weeks, a number of sheep producers have phoned to ask me about bladder worm (Cysticercus tenuicollis) in sheep. The reason for the sudden interest in this parasite is that these producers have recently consigned sheep for slaughter. Abattoir meat inspectors have detected bladder worm in the carcase. These finding have now been reported back to producers via the National Sheep Health Monitoring Program.

The program is being piloted in the Tablelands LHPA. Meat inspectors are reporting on a wide range of conditions from hydatids, sheep measles, liver fluke, OJD (ovine Johnes disease)  and pneumonia to grass seeds, dog bites and bruising.

Dr Ian Links, Biosecurity Special Projects Officer who works for an alliance between Industry and Investment NSW and CSU Wagga then collates and distributes the reports to producers.

Bladder worm is a tapeworm cyst. It is quite common and is sometimes mistaken for hydatids. However as the name suggests the cysts look like a bladder filled with clear fluid. It also contains a white spot, the tapeworm head. These cysts occur around the liver while the adult tapeworm lives in dogs.

I needed to know more before answering the questions these producers put to me so I turned to Dr David Jenkins now also at CSU. I have known David for nearly thirty years and have always enjoyed his infectious enthusiasm. He is also a world expert on tapeworms.

David reminded me that dogs acquire the tapeworm when they are fed sheep offal that contains the cysts. The mature tapeworms inside dogs produce segments every day or two and these segments contain a massive number of eggs. These eggs are also tough, surviving for a year or two.

Sheep consume the eggs when they eat contaminated pasture. After the eggs hatch inside the sheep, the little worms burrow through the gut wall and migrate through the liver causing damage along the way. If sheep eat sufficient larval their health and productivity can be affected.

The larvae then develop to form a cyst on the liver while they wait for the opportunity to become a dog’s breakfast and complete their life cycle.

Bladder worms are harmless to dogs and people but their presence indicates that tapeworms are maturing in home or visiting dogs. This means that these dogs could also be carrying the much more serious hydatid tapeworm or the tapeworm that cause sheep measles.

If you have lived in rural NSW for a generation or two you will almost certainly know someone who has suffered the consequences of hydatid cysts. As you will know, they are dangerous and can be fatal.

Sheep measles causes small white cysts through the meat leading to carcase condemnation. Fortunately, it is not a health risk to consumers but the rice grain sized lumps in their roast do not impress them. You will also not be impressed when the abattoir reports to you that they have condemned a proportion of your consignment.

Therefore, if your get a report of bladder worms in your sheep consignment take it as a gentle reminder that you need to control tapeworms in your dogs. You can do this by dosing them every 4-6 weeks (using a product containing praziquantel) and by ensuring that your dogs and those of your visitors are not fed fresh sheep meat (unless it has been frozen for 14days) or offal.

Remember that dogs belonging to casual farm workers are a source of tapeworms. It is recommended that you ask that they be tied up for 3 days after dosing and their droppings collected and disposed of safely.

The National Sheep Health Monitoring Program has the potential to deliver valuable information both to individual farmers and to the region. I am sure I will be reporting more of its findings to you in the future. I would like to commend The Sheepmeat Council of Australia, WoolProducers Australia and Industry and Investment for supporting this initiative.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For further information on larval cestodes of sheep and other animals see:

The following Primefacts at the NSW DII website:

• ‘Sheep Measles-another profit killer’
• ‘Hydatids-you too can be affected’
• ‘Hydatids-thebasics’

The sheep measles Primefact also has a table with a summary of ‘cysts of larval cestodes (tapeworms) of sheep and cattle’.

Also see the WormBoss website: www.wool.com/wormboss (The old URL, www.wormboss.com.au , will redirect to the new location).

While you are there, spend a few minutes doing the WormBoss on-line Survey. 

This follows on from an email from a vet asking about treating for paramphistomes. This and other aspects of stomach fluke is discussed in the primefact on stomach fluke. Also see WormBoss: www.wool.com/wormboss

Firstly, the mere presence of stomach fluke in the forestomachs of cattle or sheep, or their eggs in the faeces, does not indicate that treatment is necessary. Clinical disease (paramphistomosis) only occurs in certain areas (for example, the NSW North Coast) and under defined conditions, and is due to duodenitis from large numbers of migrating immature fluke.

Nilzan(R) (levamisole + oxyclozanide),  especially now that Mansonil(R) (niclosamide) is no longer available,  is the only product effective to a useful degree against immature stomach fluke.

However the product is not registered in NSW for this use  in cattle. Off-label use can only legally be done under veterinary prescription. For this reason Nilzan was removed from the current edition of the stomach fluke Primefact, although veterinarians can get more information by checking the references listed in the Primefact.

Dr Joseph Boray – long time expert on stomach and liver fluke (and one of the people behind the development of triclabendazole), responded at my invitation to our discussion on treating for stomach fluke. Here below is his letter, used with permission.

==============================