Pathology and parasitology

The Pathology and Parasitology department conducts the testing of a wide range of farm, domestic, pet, exotic and wild animals for the needs of the state veterinary supervision as well as private entities.

Pathological examination of dead animals (accredited method) represents the first and basic stage of comprehensive diagnosis of animal diseases. Together with other follow-up examinations, such as bacteriological, parasitological, virological, toxicological, etc., it allows us to determine the degree of damage to the organism, secondary diseases, and the cause of death of the animal. We also perform autopsies on delivered organs, especially from large animals, whose autopsy is not possible in our facilities for technical reasons. We also perform histopathological or cytological examinations of postmortem and intravital animal tissues (staining mainly with HE, Giemsa, Dip Quick Stain, Ziehl-Nielsen, Congo red), and in meat products and foodstuffs, staining with Alizarin red to determine bone fragments (accredited method).

The Parasitology Laboratory performs comprehensive diagnostics of internal and external parasites in various animal species using both clinical and sectional material. Both traditional and modern methods are used to examine samples. The department includes accredited laboratories for the diagnosis of Echinococcus spp., Trichinella spp., and Varroa destructor. The Parasitology Laboratory of the State Veterinary Institute in Prague includes workplaces in Český Brod and Příbram, which only examine the muscle tissue of domestic pigs for the presence of Trichinella spp. larvae. The SVÚ Prague parasitology laboratory has long specialized not only in coprological diagnostics (examination of animal feces or bedding), but also in the diagnosis of tissue parasites (blood samples, muscle tissue, organs, skin scrapings), especially selected groups of protozoa, helminths, and zoonoses, with a narrower focus on tapeworms of the genus Taenia, Hydatigera, and protozoa of the genus Cryptosporidium and Sarcocystis.