Effect of uncertainty in total parasite infestation on accuracy and precision of estimates of ectoparasiticide efficacy
2016
Schall, Robert | Burger, Divan A. | Erasmus, Theo P.
In animal studies of ectoparasiticide efficacy the total number of parasites with which experimental animals are infested is not always equal to the intended number of parasites (usually n=50 per experimental animal in the case of ticks, and n=50 or n=100 in the case of fleas). That is, in the practical implementation of a study protocol, the infestation of experimental animals may be subject to variability so that total infestation is not known precisely. The purpose of the present study is to assess the impact of this variability on the accuracy and precision of efficacy estimates. The results of a thorough simulation study show clearly that uncertainty in total parasite infestation – of the magnitude encountered in well-controlled animal studies – has virtually no effect on the accuracy and precision of estimators of ectoparasiticide efficacy.
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