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Grant support

Funding for this project was provided by the RTA2013-00064-C02-01 grant from the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA). Special thanks go to J.A. Tanco and A. Guillen for their assistance in field and laboratory work and to Carmen Margolles for her support. Thanks go also to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Analysis of institutional authors

Calvete CCorresponding AuthorDelgado IAuthorUriarte JAuthor

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January 7, 2020
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Assessment of targeted selective treatment criteria to control subclinical gastrointestinal nematode infections on sheep farms

Publicated to:Veterinary Parasitology. 277 (UNSP 109018): 109018-109018 - 2020-01-01 277(UNSP 109018), DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2019.109018

Authors: Calvete, Carlos; Gonzalez, Jose M; Ferrer, Luis M; Ramos, Juan J; Lacasta, Delia; Delgado, Ignacio; Uriarte, Joaquin

Affiliations

Univ Zaragoza, Agrifood Inst AragonIA2, Vet Fac, Anim Pathol Dept,CITA, E-50013 Zaragoza, Spain - Author
Univ Zaragoza, Vet Fac, Anim Pathol Dept, E-50013 Zaragoza, Spain - Author
Zaragoza Univ, CITA, Agrifood Inst Aragon IA2, Agrifood Res & Technol Ctr Aragon CITA,Anim Prod, Avda Montanana 930, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author

Abstract

Control of sheep gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections mostly relies on the use of anthelmintics. Refugia-based control strategies as targeted selective treatments (TST) can delay anthelmintic resistance development, but the optimal decision criteria for selecting individuals to be treated in subclinical infection scenarios remain unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the suitability of body condition score (BCS) and faecal egg counts (FEC) as treatment indicators and to determine their optimized threshold values for treatment in TST by determining the relationships of BCS, FEC and anthelmintic treatment with several productive parameters in pre-mating and pre-partum periods at an individual level. Deworming in pre-mating period increased BCS gain, but its magnitude was directly associated with strongyle FEC before treatment. Deworming also increased fertility in ewes with BCS??400 epg before treatment. These results showed that FEC and especially BCS can be potential decision criteria for the implementation of TST in these types of scenarios. The TST scheme derived from the present results on the control of GIN infections should include anthelmintic treatment of ewes with BCS lower than ? 3 approximately five weeks before mating and lambing. In the pre-lambing period, treatment may be unnecessary if flock mean strongyle FEC is lower than ? 200 epg, as the proportion of ewes with individual FEC?>?400 epg would be very low. The results suggest that implementation of this TST scheme would provide benefits, such as the improvement of productivity, a rational management of parasites in refugia, and preservation of future efficacy of anthelmintics, in comparison to traditional deworming schemes.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

AnimalsAsymptomatic infectionsBody condition scoreBreeding performanceEfficacyEwesFemaleGastrointestinal diseasesGrowthManagementNematode infectionsParasitic infectionsPregnancyProductive efficiencyRegimesResistanceSheepSheep diseasesSmall ruminantsStrategic anthelmintic treatmentSubclinical gastrointestinal nematodosisTargeted selective treatments

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Veterinary Parasitology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 23/146, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Veterinary Sciences.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.08. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.21 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 7.09 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-13, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 17
  • Scopus: 21
  • Europe PMC: 9

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-13:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 77.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 80 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Calvete Margolles, Carlos) and Last Author (Uriarte Abad, Joaquín).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Calvete Margolles, Carlos.