Background

Helminths (parasites that reside in an animal´s intestines – see glossary of scientific terms in Case Study 3 constitute one of the most important constraints to small ruminant livestock production in the tropics resulting in widespread infection in grazing animals, associated production losses, high costs of treatment and death. Current control methods in the tropics focus on reducing contamination of pastures through anthelmintic treatment of animals and/or controlled grazing. But there are problems with increasing frequencies of drug resistance.