Project Overview
What lives in your horse's gut?
Parasitic worms in horses are a significant health concern and their management is a constant challenge for owners. Once ingested, the common option for managing parasitic worms in horses is deworming with anthelmintic drugs. With the increasing risk of anthelmintic resistance in various parasites, it is urgent to find alternative solutions for parasite control.
Our research aims to explore the intricate relationships between horse and pasture management, parasite infections and the gut microbiota (i.e. the system of micro-organisms in the gastro-intestinal tract) in order to:
I) identify potential drivers of infection.
II) provide first insights into horse microbiome-parasite interactions.
We anticipate that this information will allow us to identify signatures of resilience to parasite infections within the gut microbiome and that this will then open novel avenues to improve resilience by promoting a healthy microbiome.
