Are macrocyclic lactones useful drugs for the treatment of Parascaris equorum infections in foals?
Abstract: A study was carried out to assess the field efficacy of moxidectin (MOX) against Parascaris equorum in foals. A total of 70 foals from 2 Italian thoroughbred (Farms 1 and 2) stud farms and one trotter stud farm (Farm 3), aged 3-5 months and with faecal egg counts (FEC) f>or=300 eggs per gram (EPG) were included in the study. On each farm, foals were divided into 2 groups (of 10, 8 and 10 foals, respectively) and treated with either moxidectin (MOX, 400 mcg/kg b.w.) or ivermectin (IVM, 200 mcg/kg b.w.) on day 0 and examined for faecal count reduction (FECR) on day 14. Five, 4 and 5 foals, respectively, were kept as untreated controls. An individually based estimation of efficacy was assessed by a bootstrap simulation to evaluate the percent reduction of FECRs. Two thousand bootstrap resamples were constructed from individual FECRs and the parasite population was considered susceptible for FECs>or=90% and 95% lower confidence limit (CL)>90%, suspected resistant for FECRs>or=90% and 95% LCL<90% and resistant when FECR<90% and 95% LCL90%) in 7 and 5 trotter foals, respectively, and remained >90% until day 35. PYR treatment given on day 14 to remaining 8 foals (3 MOX-treated and 5 IVM-treated) was fully efficacious at faecal examinations carried out on days 28 and 35.
(c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2010-04-24 PubMed ID: 20471177DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.04.019Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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This research studied the efficacy of the drugs moxidectin and ivermectin in treating Parascaris equorum infections in foals, with the results indicating that they were generally not effective in thoroughbred foals, but had some success in trotter foals. Pyrantel pamoate was proven to be fully effective in the instances where the other two drugs failed.
Study Details
- The researchers conducted a study of the effectiveness of two macrocyclic lactones, moxidectin (MOX) and ivermectin (IVM), against Parascaris equorum, a roundworm commonly found in horses.
- The study examined 70 foals aged 3-5 months from three different Italian stud farms. Two of the farms bred thoroughbreds and the other one bred trotters. All these foals had fecal egg counts (FEC) of 300 eggs per gram (EPG) or above, indicative of significant worm infestations.
- The foals were divided into two groups and treated with either moxidectin (MOX) or ivermectin (IVM) on the first day. The researchers then examined the foals’ fecal count reduction (FECR) on Day 14.
Assessment Criteria
- The researchers estimated the efficacy of the treatment on an individual basis using a statistical method known as bootstrap simulation. They evaluated the percentage reduction of FECRs and took 2000 resamples to calculate the average values.
- Based on the percentage reductions, they categorized the parasite populations into three different groups: susceptible, suspected resistant and resistant.
Results
- On day 14, both MOX and IVM treatments were found to be ineffective for foals from both thoroughbred farms.
- However, MOX and IVM treatments showed efficacy in 7 and 5 trotter foals respectively, reducing the FECR by over 90% until Day 35.
- The foals categorized as resistant or suspected resistant were then subsequently treated with pyrantel pamoate (PYR), a de-worming agent.
- FECR was examined again on days 28 and 35, and it was found that PYR treatment was completely effective in all cases.
Cite This Article
APA
Veronesi F, Fioretti DP, Genchi C.
(2010).
Are macrocyclic lactones useful drugs for the treatment of Parascaris equorum infections in foals?
Vet Parasitol, 172(1-2), 164-167.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.04.019 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Dip. di Scienze Biopatologiche ed Igiene delle Produzioni Animali e Alimenti, Sez. di Parassitologia, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Anthelmintics / administration & dosage
- Anthelmintics / pharmacology
- Anthelmintics / therapeutic use
- Ascaridida Infections / drug therapy
- Ascaridida Infections / parasitology
- Ascaridida Infections / veterinary
- Ascaridoidea / growth & development
- Computer Simulation
- Feces / parasitology
- Female
- Gastrointestinal Diseases / drug therapy
- Gastrointestinal Diseases / parasitology
- Gastrointestinal Diseases / veterinary
- Horse Diseases / drug therapy
- Horse Diseases / parasitology
- Horses
- Ivermectin / administration & dosage
- Ivermectin / pharmacology
- Ivermectin / therapeutic use
- Male
- Parasite Egg Count / veterinary
- Pyrantel Pamoate / administration & dosage
- Pyrantel Pamoate / pharmacology
- Pyrantel Pamoate / therapeutic use
- Random Allocation
Citations
This article has been cited 5 times.- Cain JL, Norris JK, Ripley NE, Suri P, Finnerty CA, Gravatte HS, Nielsen MK. The microbial community associated with Parascaris spp. infecting juvenile horses.. Parasit Vectors 2022 Nov 4;15(1):408.
- Cain JL, Nielsen MK. The equine ascarids: resuscitating historic model organisms for modern purposes.. Parasitol Res 2022 Oct;121(10):2775-2791.
- Scala A, Tamponi C, Sanna G, Predieri G, Meloni L, Knoll S, Sedda G, Dessì G, Cappai MG, Varcasia A. Parascaris spp. eggs in horses of Italy: a large-scale epidemiological analysis of the egg excretion and conditioning factors.. Parasit Vectors 2021 May 8;14(1):246.
- Studzińska MB, Sallé G, Roczeń-Karczmarz M, Szczepaniak K, Demkowska-Kutrzepa M, Tomczuk K. A survey of ivermectin resistance in Parascaris species infected foals in south-eastern Poland.. Acta Vet Scand 2020 Jun 5;62(1):28.
- Lyons ET, Tolliver SC, Kuzmina TA, Collins SS. Further evaluation in field tests of the activity of three anthelmintics (fenbendazole, oxibendazole, and pyrantel pamoate) against the ascarid Parascaris equorum in horse foals on eight farms in Central Kentucky (2009-2010).. Parasitol Res 2011 Oct;109(4):1193-7.
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