For the first time, an accurate test to diagnose tapeworm infection in horses will be available to horse owners in the USA this summer!

EquiSal® Tapeworm (patent granted) is a laboratory test using horse saliva to determine whether a horse has a tapeworm infection. The EquiSal® result provides a low, borderline or moderate/high diagnosis and deworming is recommended for horses diagnosed as borderline or moderate/high. Diagnostic accuracy has been proven through full validation of the test which has been published in peer reviewed journal, Veterinary Clinical Pathology¹.

Currently, the only test available in the USA is a fecal worm egg count (FEC), where worm eggs are counted in a stool sample. The standard method for FEC is unreliable for diagnosing tapeworm burdens as eggs are released intermittently and are not uniformly spread throughout the stool. Tapeworm infections are more accurately diagnosed by either a blood test or the EquiSal® Tapeworm saliva test, both of which detect tapeworm-specific antibodies. EquiSal® Tapeworm has been available in the UK for the past 3 years and is integral to targeted worm control programmes recommended by many equine veterinary practices as well as companies offering FEC services.

The EquiSal® Tapeworm saliva test

The EquiSal® Tapeworm test is carried out using saliva collected with the specially designed swab provided in the EquiSal® saliva collection kit. Due to the ease of saliva collection, this procedure can be carried out by horse owners. Once the swab has been placed in a tube containing preservative solution, the sample is sent to Horsemen’s Laboratory in Illinois in a prepaid envelope, before being shipped to the Austin Davis Biologics testing laboratory in the UK. Samples are stable for at least 3 weeks at room temperature in the preservative solution, enabling safe transportation of samples overseas