Public Funding for Techion (UK) Ltd

Cattle and sheep are susceptible to coccidial infection of the alimentary tract with protozoan parasites belonging to the _Eimeria_ species. Eimeria infections are host-specific with a few pathogenic species within this genus associated with clinical disease; other co-infecting Eimeria species are often present but are not considered important pathogens. Younger animals are most vulnerable to coccidiosis due to their low immunity, although animals can be affected at any stage of their lifetime. Disease is observed all year round but it most common during the wet seasons of the year. Coccidial infections can cause severe diarrhoea resulting from the loss of absorptive capacity of the gut. Consequently, animals suffer weight loss, pain and protracted convalescence which can increase susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections. This often results in lengthy delays to finishing, increased feeding costs, costs associated with treatment (including labour and medicines, as well as welfare considerations. These considerable impacts on production at a herd/flock level represents one of the most economically significant diseases in the livestock industry. Current diagnosis largely relies on a simple faecal test for the presence of coccidia oocysts, but interpretation of the results on cyst numbers alone are challenging and should be paired with clinical assessment. Including speciation is highly beneficial to determine the presence of pathogenic _Eimeria_ spp. and to inform treatment decisions. Current practice for speciation requires sporulation of the oocyst to the next stage in its lifecycle (takes between 3-5 days), followed by microscopic examination by a highly skilled technician. Due to the cost and time taken to get results from external laboratories to the veterinary practice, speciation is rarely undertaken. Instead, farmers are under pressure to promptly treat welfare and productivity issues, would usually blanket treat animals with non-targeted treatment. Answering the call for quicker infection diagnoses (oocyst quantification) and speciation (population differentiation), our previous project confirmed that using digital imaging to detect protozoan parasites is feasible and with automated image recognition software (machine learning) it is possible to objectively speciate field populations directly from faecal samples with no requirement for sporulation (e.g. immediate diagnoses). The FECPAKG2 system, developed by Techion, is a rapid on-farm diagnostic platform currently used for faecal egg counts to detect parasitic nematode and trematode infections in ruminants and equids. The system was refined to magnify and digitally image _Eimeria_ oocysts and this proposal will look at further product development through to commercialisation of a speciated coccidia test.

Coccidiosis in cattle and sheep is caused by infection of the alimentary tract with protozoan parasites called Eimeria _spp_. There are many species of _Eimeria_ but only a small proportion of these are commonly associated with clinical disease; other _Eimeria_ species may be present but are not considered important pathogens. Coccidiosis can affect animals at any stage in their lifetime, however young animals are most vulnerable due to their low immunity. Disease can be seen all year round; it is most common that outbreaks will occur during the wet seasons of the year. The UK continues to get warmer and wetter each year as a result of global warming. Infection causes a loss of absorptive capacity of the gut with consequent diarrhoea which can be severe. Affected animals usually suffer weight loss, pain and protracted convalescence resulting in welfare considerations, lengthy delays to finishing, susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections and extra feeding costs, alongside cost of treatment (including labour and medicines). It is one of the most economically significant diseases in cattle and sheep due to the considerable impact on production at herd/flock level. Current diagnosis involves faecal testing for presence of oocysts. Interpretation of faecal samples is challenging because there may be low numbers of oocysts present in the faeces of normal calves, and not all _Eimeria spp._ are considered to be pathogenic. Demonstration of large numbers of oocysts in faecal samples is helpful but speciation is essential to determine whether coccidia are pathogenic. Current practice for speciation requires sporulation of the oocyst (which currently takes between 3 and 5 days) and then microscopic examination of the sporulated oocyst by a highly skilled technician. However, this is rarely undertaken in field outbreaks due to cost and time taken to get results from external laboratories to the veterinary practice. With these limitations and the pressures for prompt treatment regarding welfare and productivity, farmers would usually blanket treat animals with a non-targeted treatment. The existing FECPAKg2 system developed by project partner Techion is a rapid on-farm diagnostic platform for faecal egg count testing currently used to detect parasitic nematode infections in ruminants and equids. This project will assess the feasibility of adapting the existing FECPAKg2 system to detect protozoan parasites, alongside development and integration with automated image recognition software to objectively speciate using digital images of un-sporulated oocysts (e.g. immediate diagnosis using fresh faecal samples).