Anthelmintic efficacies of a tablet formula of ivermectin-praziquantel on horses experimentally infected with three Strongylus species

Abstract

In this blinded randomized and controlled study, the anthelmintic efficacy of a tablet formula of ivermectin-praziquantel was evaluated in horses experimentally infected with three species of Strongylus larvae. Eighteen previously dewormed horses were inoculated on study day 0 with third-stage larvae of Strongylus vulgaris, Strongylus equinus, and Strongylus edentatus. The horses were randomly allocated to three groups (n = 6): test-drug (tablet formula), positive-control (reference gel), and negative-control (placebo tablet). On day 56, the horses were treated once with the respective drugs. On day 95, the horses were sacrificed, and necropsy examinations were performed to assess the status of the parasite burden (L4 and immature L5) and pathological lesions on selected organs and tissues. By the criteria of worm counts, the test-drug and positive-control showed, respectively, 100% and 97.3% anthelmintic efficacies on S. vulgaris, 100% and 81.4% on S. equinus, and equally 100% on S. edentatus. However, the efficacies on S. equinus and S. edentatus should be taken only as face values considering their respective low worm counts in the placebo group. The S. vulgaris-induced arterial lesions were also reduced in the test-drug and positive-control groups with efficacies of 73.9% and 62.9%, respectively. No adverse reactions were observed with either of the drugs. Our data demonstrate that the Equimax tablet formula was as safe and efficacious as the gel formula anthelmintic on large strongyles in horses.