Impactful research informing clinical practice
Liverpool Veterinary Parasitology Diagnostics (LVPD) is a specialist diagnostic service based at the Institute of Veterinary Science offering laboratory tests for UK endemic and exotic veterinary parasitic diseases to support veterinary patient care, education and research.
It was another productive year in 2017 for LVPD and one which further highlighted the importance of emerging exotic parasitic diseases in the UK. Following on from reporting the first case of canine ocular thelaziosis in the UK in 2016, LVPD published their full findings for this and two subsequent cases in the Vet Record, generating widespread national press coverage. In addition, Dr John Graham-Brown (BVSc 2010) reported a case of human thelaziosis in The Lancet.
In a summer project funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by LVPD, Jennifer Palfreyman (Liverpool BVSc undergraduate) used ecological niche modelling via Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction (GARP) to establish the distribution of Phortica verigata (vector for Thelazia callipaeda) in the UK and the likelihood of T. callipaeda becoming endemic. Additionally, UK distribution of P. variegata was investigated further through field observation. Results will be published in 2018, with further work planned for this summer.
Working in conjunction with LVPD, Dr Alison Howell (BVSc 2006) completed work on an Animal Welfare Foundation funded project The impact and prevalence of liver fluke in UK horses and results will be published this year.
Finally, after 19 years of dedicated service, Dr Jackie Barber, retired from her role as clinical advisor for LVPD in December 2017. Jackie played a crucial part in the creation of the service in conjunction with Professor the Lord Trees. LVPD would like to thank her for all the help and support she’s given to clients and the service over the years, and we wish her all the very best for the future.
The primary role of LVPD is to provide veterinary parasitology diagnostics to the University of Liverpool’s veterinary teaching hospitals, first opinion practices, farms and pathology service, and to support the delivery of the BVSc programme. By choosing to use LVPD for your parasitology diagnostics you will be supporting the training of the veterinary surgeons of the future.