Abstract:
The use of antibody responses to gastrointestinal nematode infection as a marker for host resistance offers potential advantages over faecal worm egg counts (FEC) but still requires a) confirmation of its efficacy in identifying resistant animals, and b) determination of the specificity of the antibody responses to different worm species, and thus the necessity for species-specific tests. This study addressed the latter issue for the IgG response of goats to infection with three key worm species.