The prevalence of anthelmintic resistance of horse strongyles in The Netherlands

Abstract

A survey to determine the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance of horse strongyles was carried out with 616 horses on 22 farms. The tested drugs were cambendazole, pyrantel pamaote and ivermectin. Based on egg count reduction tests the efficacy of cambendazole varied from 0% to 93% and of pyrantel from 93% to 100%. Ivermectin treatments were 100% effective on all farms. Larval cultures after cambendazole treatments revealed exclusively cyathostome larvae. After pyrantel treatments besides cyathostome larvae other types of larvae were also found. After ivermectin treatments only a few cyathostome larvae were observed. It can be concluded that benzimidazoleresistance of cyathostomes is very common and widespread in the Netherlands. This means that benzimidazoles and pro-benzimidazoles should be excluded for strategic use in horses.