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Efficacy of selected anthelmintic drugs against cyathostomins in horses in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany

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Abstract

Cyathostomins are currently the most common internal parasites of horses. With the intensive use of anthelmintic drugs over the past decades, resistance of cyathostomins to anthelmintics is becoming a growing problem in many countries. The aim of this study was to assess the current situation on horse farms in the German federal state of Brandenburg. A pre-selected population of horses from 24 premises that had shown a prevalence of cyathostomins higher than the average in a previous study was examined for anthelmintic efficacy. Faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRTs) were performed for ivermectin (IVM) and pyrantel (PYR). For IVM, the egg reappearance period (ERP) was also examined, as a shortened ERP can be indicative of developing resistance. The efficacy of IVM on cyathostomins was high: 99.1 % of 224 horses had a zero egg count 14 days after treatment. No shortening of the ERP was detected. For the data of the FECRT for PYR, three different methods of calculation were employed: (a) the method as recommended by the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP), (b) a bootstrapping method and (c) a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Two methods of interpretation for these data were used: Resistance was declared (a) when FECR was <90 % and the lower 95 % confidence interval (LCL) <80 % and (b) when additionally the upper 95 % confidence level (UCL) was <95 %. When applying the first interpretation, resistance against PYR was found on four yards, while, when considering the UCL, all three methods for calculation only detected resistance on one single yard. Twelve species of cyathostomins were detected in larval cultures derived from strongyle egg positive faecal samples collected 14 days after treatment with PYR by reverse line blot hybridization (RLB). In order to generate comparable data, it is suggested to establish international standards for the calculation of FECRT data.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Pfizer Inc. Germany and Merial Germany for the provision of the anthelmintic drugs.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Street. 7-13, D-14163, Berlin, Germany

    Juliane K. Fischer, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna & Peter-Henning Clausen

  2. Institute of Parasitology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria

    Barbara Hinney

  3. Department of Large Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Matthew J. Denwood

  4. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Teramo, Italy

    Donato Traversa

Authors
  1. Juliane K. Fischer
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  2. Barbara Hinney
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  3. Matthew J. Denwood
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  4. Donato Traversa
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  5. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna
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  6. Peter-Henning Clausen
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Correspondence to Peter-Henning Clausen.

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Fischer, J.K., Hinney, B., Denwood, M.J. et al. Efficacy of selected anthelmintic drugs against cyathostomins in horses in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. Parasitol Res 114, 4441–4450 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4685-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4685-7

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