Re: MORE Info on small strongyles

Abstract:

There are three available drug classes for cyathostomin control in horses, the benzimidazoles such as fenbendazole and oxfendazole, the tetrahydropyrimidines which are the pyrantel salts, and the macrocyclic lactones (ML), ivermectin and moxidectin. All of these drugs have differing levels of efficacy, duration of activity and spectrum of stages of cyathostomins they control. The ML class of drugs has become ever more widely used due to their potency, spectrum of activity, relative safety, and as yet few reports of resistance.

In the case of fenbendazole, the recommended dose of 5 mg/Kg liveweight will control sensitive strains of adult and developing larval stages of small strongyles. For control of inhibited stages a daily dose of 10 mg/Kg liveweight for 5 consecutive days is recommended. Fenbendazole resistance has been recognised as being widespread in all major horse populations surveyed and use of this compound at either dosage regimen should be avoided where resistance occurs [45-51].

Treatment regimens with pyrantel salts have varied, and include recommendations for monthly treatments, or even daily administration which was adopted in horse operation the US for many years, although this programme did not find favour in other geographies.

Pyrantel salts are not effective against inhibited stages of small strongyles but will remove sensitive strains of adults. Resistance to pyrantel salts has been identified both in Europe and the US, but does not appear to be as widespread as resistance to benzimidazoles [52-57].

As a general caution, unless sensitivity has been demonstrated by a faecal egg count reduction test, use of benzimidazole or pyrantel based anthelmintics carries the risk that treatment will be ineffective [58-61].

The two compounds within the macrocyclic lactone group need to be considered separately due to significant differences in potency and spectrum. The first available ML for horse, ivermectin, is highly potent against adult stages, luminal larval stages and developing stages of larvae in mucosa, but has variable and low efficacy against inhibited stages, even when elevated doses (5×) are administered [62-64].

Moxidectin, in addition to having high efficacy against all cyathostomin stages given as a single dose at a rate of 0.4 mg/Kg liveweight [62-66] also provides persistent activity against re-infection by small strongyles [67], resulting in a long egg re-appearance interval. The required re-treatment interval with moxidectin is longer than that for other anthelmintics allowing less frequent treatment and less selection for resistance [44,57,68-75].

The effects of removal of luminal stages of parasites on emergence of inhibited stages, whether by anthelmintic treatment or natural expulsion, must also be taken into account when designing new approaches to cyathostomin control programmes [76]. Another factor of importance to clinicians is the consequence of killing the inhibited stages, as it has been reported that the die-off of these stages following fenbendazole treatment results in severe inflammation of the mucosa of the colon. In the same study, inflammation was not seen subsequent to the elimination of these stages using moxidectin [77].