Effects of age and immune suppression of sheep on fecundity, hatching and larval feeding of different strains of Haemonchus contortus

The effects of host age and immune suppression on abomasal parasitic infection in sheep were investigated following single experimental oral infections with MHco3 (ISE), MHco4 (WRS) and MHco10 (CAVR) strains of Haemonchus contortus in naïve 5-month-old crossbred lambs (n = 1 per group) and 15-month-old Greyface sheep treated with methyl prednisolone acetate (n = 2 per group) or without corticosteroid treatment (n = 2 per group). Adult female H. contortus in 5-month-old lambs (n = 1 per group) shed on average 6.5, 3.1 and 8.0 times more eggs than in 15-month-old sheep (n = 4 per group) following infection with MHco3 (ISE), MHco4 (WRS) and MHco10 (CAVR) strains of H. contortus, respectively, over a period of 28 days following the commencement of patency. There was no obvious effect of age of sheep or corticosteroid treatment on the abomasal establishment of H. contortus or on in vitro assays for egg hatching or larval feeding at different concentrations of anthelmintics, although statistical analysis could not be performed due to the small group sizes.