RCVS Statutory Membership Examination (SME) · UK · Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersHost-parasite relationships and the flukes, tapeworms and roundworms of domestic animals: their life cycles, damage, diagnosis and control, and the growing problem of anthelmintic resistance.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF core group 06; ICAR AIEEA-PG 13 (Parasitology); PRC 10%; Nepal NLEV 6; China preventive paper parasitology 25
How our questions for RCVS Statutory Membership Examination spread across the units of General Veterinary Parasitology & Helminthology. Difficulty: 5 easy, 16 medium, 4 hard.
| Diagnosis and control of helminths | 4 | |
| Trematodes: Fasciola | 3 | |
| Pathogenesis of helminth infections | 3 | |
| Toxocara and Ancylostoma | 3 | |
| Anthelmintic resistance | 3 | |
| Host-parasite relationships | 2 | |
| Moniezia | 2 | |
| Schistosomes | 1 | |
| Cestodes: Taenia and Echinococcus | 1 | |
| Nematodes: Haemonchus | 1 | |
| Dirofilaria | 1 | |
| Parasite life cycles | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which flukicide is the drug of choice for acute fasciolosis because of its activity against early immature flukes?
D. Triclabendazole
Triclabendazole kills early immature flukes (within the first week or so after infection — labels commonly claim from about two days old) as well as late immature and adult flukes, which is why it is chosen in acute fasciolosis. Oxyclozanide and albendazole act mainly on adult flukes, of little use in acute disease; ivermectin has no activity against flukes. Resistance to triclabendazole exists, so efficacy should be checked.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
A group of first-season grazing calves in late summer is coughing and breathing rapidly. First-stage larvae are recovered from fresh faeces by the Baermann technique. The cause is:
B. Dictyocaulus viviparus
Cattle lungworm causes parasitic bronchitis (husk); L1 larvae appear in fresh faeces. Muellerius infects sheep and goats, and Ostertagia and Haemonchus produce eggs, not larvae, and cause gut disease.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
Which statement about Toxocara cati is correct?
B. Kittens are infected through milk but not across the placenta
T. cati is transmitted by eggs, paratenic hosts and transmammary transfer, but not transplacentally, in contrast with T. canis. The contrast is a favourite exam item.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
Copper oxide wire particles reduce Haemonchus in sheep and goats. The main caution in sheep is:
A. Risk of chronic copper toxicity
Sheep accumulate copper readily and are prone to copper poisoning; dose and dietary copper must be considered. The other cautions apply to other products.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
'Refugia' in anthelmintic resistance management means:
D. The part of the worm population not exposed to the drug at treatment
Refugia include free-living stages on pasture and worms in untreated animals; they dilute resistant survivors. Survivors of treatment are the opposite of refugia.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
New sheep arrive on a farm. The recommended quarantine treatment strategy is:
D. Treat with a combination of unrelated anthelmintic classes, hold off pasture until eggs clear, then turn onto contaminated pasture
Quarantine treatment aims to stop importing resistant worms. Turning treated animals onto contaminated (not clean) pasture lets any survivors be diluted by resident refugia.
Further reading: Taylor, Coop & Wall, Veterinary Parasitology (4th ed.)
Ten here, 25 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to RCVS Statutory Membership Examination in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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