Efficacy and safety of oral praziquantel against Dicrocoelium dendriticum in llamas

Llamas and alpacas in Europe: Endoparasites of the digestive tract and their pharmacotherapeutic control

“…Such low drug levels might have significant implications on the development of anthelmintic resistance. Although plasma levels of ivermectin were not correlated with anthelmintic efficacy, the available data suggest that higher dose rates of ivermectin are required in SACs, similar to other drugs (Dadak et al, 2013a(Dadak et al, , 2013b. Although no studies are available on the safety margin of ivermectin in camelids, a moderate increase in dosage appears to be safe in our experience.…”

“…In a recent study including 53 llamas an oral dose of 50 mg/kg BW of praziquantel was required for the effective treatment of camelids infected with D. dendriticum and it was shown that this dose rate was safe (Dadak et al, 2013b). It should be noted that commercially available formulations usually contain praziquantel in concentrations not suitable for the treatment of camelids at the required dose rate; when using these products massive quantities of medication are required.…”

“…However, SACs are unable to swallow such large volumes, and as a result there is inadequate or incomplete dosing, leading to further progression of the pathological changes in diseased animals. Therefore it is necessary to use an oral formulation suitable for camelids so that a sufficiently high drug concentration can be administered in a small volume that can be swallowed easily; at present, this can only be achieved using an oral paste manufactured by a competent pharmacy experienced in camelid medication (Dadak et al, 2013b).…”

“…Some oral anthelmintics have to be administered at quite different dose rates in camelids compared to other species (Dadak et al, 2013a). In addition, the inability of llamas and alpacas to swallow the large volumes often needed when using products in an off-label manner may result in underdosing (Dadak et al, 2013b). Such inadequate antiparasitic treatment not only leads to further progression of the pathological changes in diseased animals but additionally might be associated with emergence of anthelmintic resistance.…”

Evaluation of molecular methods for the field study of the natural history of Dicrocoelium dendriticum

“…Dicrocoeliosis has been reported in sheep Senlik et al, 2008;Sargison et al, 2012;Bosco et al, 2015), goats (Jithendran and Bhat, 1996;Khanjari et al, 2014), cattle (Colwell and Goater, 2010), buffalo (Rinaldi et al, 2009), deer (Otranto et al, 2007), camels (Wahba et al, 1997), pigs (Capucchio et al, 2009) and llamas (Dadak et al, 2013) in specific ecological niches around the world. This generalist definitive host strategy extends to sympatric rodent (Berry and Tricker, 1969), lagomorph (Sargison et al, 2012) and ungulate (Goater and Colwell, 2007;Beck et al, 2014) wildlife.…”