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Parasitic Roundworms ( Cattle Bankrupt Worm )

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Cooperia is a genus or also referred to as parasitic roundworms (Cattle Bankrupt Worm) that infects cattle, sheep, goats, and many other wild and domestic ruminants such as deer, antelopes, etc. The most relevant species for livestock are Cooperia cortical (Sheep and Goats), oncophora (Cattle), pectinata (Cattle), punctate (Cattle), and surnabada (Cattle and Sheep) ("Cooperia Punctata - Classifications"). Adult Cooperia worms are commonly described to have a reddish-coiled appearance that measures up to approximately ten millimeters long, where females typically measure larger than that of the males. As in other roundworms, their body is typically covered in cuticle, which is described as flexible but rather tough. The body of Cooperia …show more content…

By having suitable weather infective larvae can survive on pasture between five to twelve months. Although many feel that these parasites are unable to survive through the rough winter at times they are capable of overwintering. Livestock become infected after ingesting infective larvae with pasture. The larvae reach the small intestine of the body. Where soon after they are completely developed into adult worms and the females start laying eggs. L4 larvae can stop development and remain arrested (inhibited, dormant) for up to approximately five months before completing development ("Endoparasites - Cooperia| Merial New Zealand"). This makes it possible for those larvae that infect hosts at the end of the summer to remain arrested inside the host during the winter and to resume development in the next spring with more favorable environmental conditions. The prepatent period known as the time between infection and first eggs shed with dormancy is two to three weeks. This means that several generations can also exhibit and can follow within the same season. L4 larvae and adults burrow into the gut’s wall, particularly in the duodenum and harm the tissues and blood vessels but do not suck blood ("COOPERIA Spp, Parasitic Roundworms of CATTLE, SHEEP and GOATS. Biology, Prevention and Control. Cooperiosis, Cooperiasis"). As

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