SCOPS recently held a specialist webinar for vets and advisors about liver fluke.
Levels of liver fluke in the UK have been relatively low in recent years – but after a wet and mild summer and autumn in many areas, forecasts are predicting that 2024/25 will buck the trend, resulting in a high liver fluke challenge for some areas.
The temptation for many farmers will be to react to the warnings of a higher liver fluke risk this season by simply resorting to routinely treating with flukicides. However, without a risk assessment and appropriate testing, they cannot know when, or even if, they need to treat their livestock.
The webinar looked at an exciting new tool, a lateral flow test for liver fluke, developed by the University of Liverpool and made commercially available by Norbrook. It also provided a great refresher for vets and advisors and a look ahead to what could be a challenging liver fluke season.
The webinar was primarily aimed at vets and SQPs but anyone is welcome to watch it.
The speakers were:
- Introduction: Lesley Stubbings, SCOPS
- Summary of the science behind the testing: Tessa Walsh, University of Liverpool
- How to use and interpret the LFT: Dan Griffiths, Norbrook
- Using the LFT in conjunction with other tests: Philip Skuce, Moredun
- Using the test on farm: Kaz Strycharczuk, Black Sheep Vets
