Bovine Fasciolose in bayerischen `Bio-Milchkuhbetrieben`:Prävalenz und Risikofaktoren

It was the aim of the study at hand to gather the prevalence of Fasciola hepatica specifically for ecological dairy farms all across Bavaria. As the passing on of the common liver fluke mainly occurs on pastures and by means of the grass which is fed in sheds, and due to the fact that pasturing is very common on cattle farms which produce ecologically, animals of such farms are highly endangered to contract this kind of endoparasite. As a result, an empirical study was conducted in order to ascertain whether further risk factors for infections with Fasciola hepatica – besides pasturing – can be identified on farms with ecological production. Thus, it could be possible to detect prophylactic measures which could help ecological dairy farms to reduce the usage of medication. In the prevalence study both 366 ecological dairy farms and 366 conventional cattle farms across Bavaria were serologically tested for Fasciola hepatica by taking bulk milk samples via ELISA. The prevalence of 46.99 % of the ecological cattle farms significantly differed from the prevalence of 35.79 % of conventional cattle farms (p = 0,0021). The risk factor study aimed at detecting possible risk factors for passing on Fasciola hepatica, which play a major role in ecological production, by analysing survey data of 70 cattle farms. With the help of this part of the study, some risk factors could be found, however, they did not significantly differ from known risk factors for passing on Fasciolosis mentioned in previous published work. This study encourages farmers in their effort to reduce or even prevent new infections or reinfections of their bovines by changing certain parameters – which have now been examined as risk factors for passing on the common liver fluke.