Pathophysiology of Haemonchus placei infection in calves

This study was conducted to investigate the pathophysiology of Haemonchus placei infection in Friesian calves. Seven calves were divided into two groups, three uninfected calves (control group) and four infected animals. The latter group were infected orally with 500 H. placei larvae kg-1 body weight. Five weeks after infection they were all housed in metabolic crates and injected with 125I-bovine albumin. 51Cr-red cells and 59Fe-transferrin, to study albumin metabolism, erythrokinetics and ferrokinetics. The results showed that there was a significant reduction in the mean haematocrit values and reduced weight gains in the infected calves compared with the controls. There was also a change in the distribution of albumin from the extravascular to the intravascular pool and a significant increase in the plasma and blood volumes of infected calves although the blood and albumin loss via the gastrointestinal tract recorded in this study was similar in both groups.