Our new herd of cattle arrives at the river Vina du Sud!

Finally, our new herd of 30 Gudali Zebu cattle has been installed on the paddock near the river Vina du Sud. These 15 cows together with their newborn calfs shall be exposed to natural transmission of Onchocerca ochengi by Simulium squamosum blackflies for as long as 8 years. The aim of this study is to follow-up the acquistion of parasites by individual animals and to monitore the population dynamics of their worm load. Adult worms can be quantitatively assessed by palpation of the ventral skin and microfilariae of O. ochengi are counted from skin biopsies taken from the ventral skin.