Potassium carbonate as an alternative solution for detecting Anoplocephalid eggs in horse faecal samples.

BACKGROUND: Anoplocephalid species are responsible for causing tapeworm infection in horses. The disease may cause serious health issues, including discomfort, colic, and even intestinal perforation and death. A study was carried out to compare the detection rates of tapeworm eggs in naturally infected horses using two different examination solutions. For this purpose, faecal samples of 241 horses were examined with a combined sedimentation + centrifugation + flotation technique using saturated sugar solution (specific gravity (SG) = 1.30) as the basis and potassium carbonate (K2CO3) solution (SG = 1.45). RESULTS: Tapeworm eggs were detected in 43 samples in saturated sugar solution and 59 samples in potassium carbonate solution (P < 0.05), whereas 42 samples were detected egg-positive in either. The potassium carbonate solution detected significantly more positive samples than the saturated sugar solution (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results, potassium carbonate, as a non-toxic and high-density solution, can be a feasible alternative for detecting tapeworm eggs in horses.