A cross-border project for reducing outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis on dairy farms
A cross-border project for reducing outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis on dairy farms
Junia is the lead partner on the project ‘Health for Dairy Cows’ (H4DC), which is co-funded by the cross-border Interreg 2 Seas programme and has a 3.7-million-euro budget.
It brings together 7 universities and private partners from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and England. The collaborative project aims to address the difficulties faced by dairy farms as a result of the Cryptosporidium parasite. This pathogen, which is extremely common throughout the world and can be passed on to humans, causes diarrhoea which can lead to stunted growth, loss of output, and the death of the weakest animals, all of which means significant economic losses for livestock farms.
Despite this, there is still no drug effective in fighting this parasite.*
The H4DC project aims to reduce Cryptosporidium outbreaks on farms. Working closely with farmers, pilot farms will be set up. Here, new farming practices will be implemented and detection kits developed by the consortium used. The project also aims to develop an automatic electronic device to increase the probability of effective drugs being found, which will then be developed alongside biopharmaceutical companies. This technology transfer phase is in line with one of the main aims of the Interreg 2 Seas programme.