title: Evaluation of nitroxynil and closantel activity using ELISA and egg counts against Fasciola hepatica in experimentally and naturally infected cattle.
abstract: The responses of cattle infected with Fasciola hepatica to treatment with nitroxynil or closantel were monitored by faecal egg counts and by ELISA assay of anti-fluke antibodies. A first trial with experimentally infected heifers showed an increase in anti-fluke antibody titre as early as 2 weeks post-infection. Eggs were first detected in the faeces 10 weeks after infection. Egg output increased steadily over the next 8 weeks and then rapidly decreased. Treatment of a 20-week infection with nitroxynil was followed by a slow decrease in antibody titre 4 weeks later. This decrease continued over the next 40 weeks, but returned to pre-infection levels in only 2 out of 4 animals. The faecal egg count fell to zero 2 weeks after treatment and remained so for the following 30 weeks, although 1 animal produced a few eggs 32 and 34 weeks post-treatment. Within this period, neither diagnostic technique discriminated between this persistently infected animal and the others. In a second trial, 45 cattle from a naturally infected herd were treated with nitroxynil or closantel. The faecal egg counts of the treated cattle were zero within the following 2 months, whereas there were eggs in the faeces of the control (untreated) group. Nevertheless, the treated cattle showed a small, non-significant drop in anti-fluke antibody titre. These results demonstrate the need for new tools to monitor and evaluate accurately the efficacy of anthelmintic treatment.
authors.affiliation: INRA, pathologie aviaire et parasitologie, Nouzilly, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boulard
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carreras
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van Gool
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000980:Antiplatyhelmintic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D009611:Nitroxinil / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000662:veterinary*; D012458:Salicylanilides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000980:Antiplatyhelmintic Agents; D012458:Salicylanilides; D009611:Nitroxinil; C023342:closantel