Scientists at the University will participate in new research aimed at identifying a way for farmers to combat a parasite that can cause stunted growth and early mortality in dairy cattle.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0animal disease Cryptosporidiosis \u2013 which can also pose a threat to human health \u2013 occurs when young cattle get infected by parasites\u00a0and can spread quickly across herds.<\/p>\n
Now a team at the University\u2019s\u00a0School of Biosciences<\/a>, working with other universities and organisations across Europe, including the\u00a0National Farmers\u2019 Union<\/a>\u00a0in the UK, will lead a three-part study, known as H4DC, that has been awarded \u20ac3.7 million in European funding.<\/p>\n Researchers will\u00a0work with the NFU and other local and European farming organisations to gauge the full extent of the problem\u00a0and identify its economic impact on the dairy cattle industry. Pilot farms will also be established with a target of\u00a0halving the number of contaminated cattle through the use of a new detection kit\u00a0being developed at Kent as part of the project.<\/p>\n The School of Engineering and Digital Arts<\/a>\u00a0will receive approximately \u20ac1.37 million of the total grant\u00a0from the EU\u2019s\u00a0Interreg-2-seas fund.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"