• Question: how much poop have you searched

    Asked by cheza to Marisol on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Marisol Collins

      Marisol Collins answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      You really want to know @cheza? For a research project I did last year, I searched over a hundred samples of poop for a tapeworm parasite called Echinococcus. I’m about to start searching hundreds more dog poop samples for it this year too, from all over the UK!
      Also, over the years, in my work as a vet, I regularly have to test poop samples from lots of different pet species, including cats, dogs, rabbits, even reptiles. You can find out a lot about some diseases by looking in poop, and there are many tests that can identify bacteria, viruses and parasites. We can also get information about problems with an animal’s guts too, for example blood in the poo may point to a problem we need to investigate more.

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