Parasitic infections in goats adversely affect health and productivity and are
a major concern worldwide, leading to severe economic losses to the goat industry. The
use of anti-parasitic drugs has been proven to be effective in the prevention and control
of parasitic load in small ruminants. However, accurate diagnosis of parasitic infection
is of utmost importance, which helps in the selection of the most suitable therapeutic
agents and reduces the indiscriminate use of anti-parasitic drugs. The conventional
diagnostic methods, such as microscopic examination of excretions, secretions, and
blood smear for parasites, even nowadays are considered to be “gold standard”
techniques in diagnosis, whereas the advancement in clinical diagnostic methods with
rapid screening procedures and introduction of molecular biology tools without
sacrificing sensitivity, value-added tests, and point-of-care tests overcome the issues
related with these conventional methods. Recent diagnostic evaluation of parasitic
diseases is performed by serology-based tests, parasite DNA-based molecular methods
and proteomic technology. Serology-based tests/ assays are helpful for screening of
large number of goats at a time, whereas the parasite DNA-based molecular methods
are found helpful for the diagnosis of parasite with very high sensitivity and specificity.
Recently, the use of proteomic technology with host or parasite protein as a biomarker
opens a new horizon for parasite disease diagnosis. The current chapter discusses the
detailed conventional methods and alternative approaches for the diagnosis of parasite
disease.
Keywords: Dot-ELISA, ELISA, FAST-ELISA, ICAT, iTRAQ, Molecular diagnostic tests, MALDI-TOF MS, Microscopic examination, Parasitic disease diagnosis, Proteomic technology, Serology-based tests, SALDI-TOF MS.
