febantel and moxidectin

Drug resistance in sheep gastrointestinal trichostrongyles is a cosmopolitan major constraint to small ruminant production. Despite reports that anthelmintic drug resistance has become common, there are limited information on the presence of drug resistance in Italy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four anthelmintics to control infection in sheep in central Italy. Fifty sheep with fecal egg counts (FEC) > or =150 eggs per gram were selected on each of three farms (n = 150 total sheep) which were randomly allocated to one of five groups. Groups were treated with febantel, levamisole, ivermectin, or moxidectin while the fifth group acted as the control group. A FEC reduction test (FECRT) was conducted on each animal and the mean FEC of each treatment group was compared to that of the control group within farm. Resistance was declared when percentage reduction (R) <95% and the lower 95% confidence interval was <90%. Levamisole (mean R = 89%) resistance was found on all farms and ivermectin (mean R = 93%) resistance was found on two of the three farms. Posttreatment larval cultures showed the presence of Teladorsagia (Ostertagia) circumcincta and Trichostrongylus spp. larvae. Febantel (mean R = 96%) and moxidectin (mean R = 100%) remained effective. This study suggests that drug resistance in sheep gastrointestinal trichostrongyles is present in central Italy and a potential problem which would justify a broader nationwide geographical investigation.

Topics: Animals; Antinematodal Agents; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Feces; Guanidines; Italy; Ivermectin; Levamisole; Macrolides; Ostertagia; Ostertagiasis; Parasite Egg Count; Sheep; Sheep Diseases; Treatment Outcome; Trichostrongylosis; Trichostrongylus

The effect of two treatment programmes on egg shedding in dogs naturally infected with Toxocara canis, one based on a milbemycin oxime-praziquantel-lufenuron combination (SENTINEL) Spectrum; Group 1) and the other based on a febantel-pyrantel embonate-praziquantel combination (DRONTAL) Plus; Group 2), was compared in a study involving 104 suckling pups from three different kennels. The animals in Group 1 were treated at a minimum milbemycin oxime dose of 0.5 mg/kg bw starting at 2 weeks of age and subsequently every 4 weeks until reaching 26 weeks of age. The animals in Group 2 were treated every 2 weeks from week 2 until week 12 of age and then once at week 26 at a minimum febantel and pyrantel embonate dose of 15.0 and 14.4 mg/kg bw, respectively. Toxocara egg counts were determined fortnightly starting at 2 weeks of age and continuing until 26 weeks of age for every pup. Any adverse drug event was recorded during the trial. Both treatment programmes significantly reduced the zoonotic Toxocara egg shedding and were well tolerated by the pups. The pups in Group 1 showed lower average faecal egg counts and were found more frequently shedding no eggs than the pups in Group 2.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Suckling; Anthelmintics; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Feces; Guanidines; Macrolides; Parasite Egg Count; Pyrantel Pamoate; Toxocara canis; Toxocariasis; Treatment Outcome

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Infective Agents; Benzimidazoles; Cephalosporins; Chlortetracycline; Drug Residues; Fenbendazole; Food Additives; Food Analysis; Guanidines; Ivermectin; Macrolides; Nitriles; Oxytetracycline; Tetracycline; Triazines; Veterinary Medicine

Haemonchus contortus- and Trichostrongylus colubriformis-infected jirds (Meriones unguiculatus) are useful for anthelmintic studies. With concurrent infections of these parasites established in the jird, questions of not only anthelmintic activity, but to some extent spectrum, could be assessed in a single model system. This report outlines a model using immunosuppressed (0.02% hydrocortisone in feed) jirds concurrently infected with H. contortus and T. colubriformis. Immunosuppressed jirds were inoculated with approximately 1,000 exsheathed infective larvae of each species, treated per os on day 10 postinoculation (PI), and killed on day 13 PI. Stomachs and small intestines were removed, opened longitudinally, incubated in distilled water at 37 C for 5 hr, fixed in formaldehyde solution, and stored for subsequent examination. Contents of both organs were examined using a stereomicroscope (15-45 x). Various standard anthelmintics were evaluated in the model; modern broad-spectrum ruminant anthelmintics (benzimidazoles, febantel, ivermectin, levamisole hydrochloride, and milbemycin D) are active uniformly and in most cases at doses comparable to those required for efficacy against these parasites in ruminants. This model, using worms of 2 genera living in distinct sites, allows preliminary evaluation of anthelmintic activity and spectrum for experimental compounds in a single cost- and resource-efficient experiment.

Topics: Animals; Anthelmintics; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Benzimidazoles; Bithionol; Diethylcarbamazine; Gerbillinae; Guanidines; Haemonchiasis; Macrolides; Piperazine; Piperazines; Pyrantel Tartrate; Rodent Diseases; Trichostrongyloidiasis