The role of inhibited development in the epidemiology of Ostertagia infections.

Seasonal patterns of inhibited larval development have been described for Ostertagia spp. from many parts of the world; winter inhibition is found in areas where transmission of infections occurs mainly in summer and summer inhibition in areas where transmission is mainly from autumn to spring. There is no fixed regional seasonal inhibition pattern. Depending on weather and farm management, the timing and level of inhibition will vary from year to year. Moreover, differences in the propensity for inhibition have been observed between field strains of Ostertagia in cattle in Australia and in the Netherlands. Simultaneous resumption of development of large numbers of inhibited larvae can result in Type II ostertagiasis, usually in only part of the heard. For reasons as yet unknown, there appear to be differences between regions in the prevalence of this disease. Development of immunity is also involved in the onset of inhibition and the occurrence of two separate inhibited populations in one host population, "seasonal" and "immunological", has been suggested. Seasonal fluctuations in the proportion of inhibition in naturally infected animals do not necessarily imply that the main trigger for inhibition is environmental conditioning, because infection levels and thus the degree of immunity will also fluctuate seasonally. In some Ostertagia field populations during late autumn in the Netherlands, worm burdens of permanently grazed calves consist mainly of inhibited larvae, but burdens of tracer calves consist of adults. Inhibited larvae may also be involved in the development of immunity. Some protection against reinfection with Haemonchus contortus has been demonstrated in barren ewes infected 6 months earlier with a single dose of 15,000 inhibition-conditioned larvae. Such an immunogenic role may be more important in Ostertagia, because inhibited larvae are found deeper in the mucosa than those of Haemonchus.