title: Efficacy of a single dose of milbemycin oxime/praziquantel combination tablets, Milpro(®), against adult Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs and both adult and immature E. multilocularis in young cats.
abstract: Two single-site, laboratory, negatively controlled, masked, randomised dose confirmation studies were performed: one in dogs, the other in cats. After a period of acclimatisation, both the dogs and cats were orally infected with Echinococcus multilocularis protoscoleces. In the dog study, 10 dogs received a single dose of Milpro® tablets at a minimum dose of 0.5 mg/kg milbemycin oxime and 5 mg/kg praziquantel 18 days post-infection and 10 dogs received no treatment. In the cat study, 10 cats received a single dose of Milpro® tablets at a minimum dose of 2 mg/kg milbemycin oxime and 5 mg/kg praziquantel 7 days post-infection, 10 cats received a single dose of the treatment 18 days post-infection and 10 cats remained untreated. In both studies, intestinal worm counts were performed 23 days post-infection at necropsy. No worms were retrieved from any of the 30 treated animals. Nine of 10 control dogs had multiple worms (geometric mean 91, arithmetic mean 304) and all 10 control cats had multiple worms (geometric mean 216, arithmetic mean 481). The difference in worm counts between all three treated groups and their controls was highly significant (ANOVA p values of log transformed data <0.0001). Efficacy of 100 % was demonstrated for the elimination of adult E. multilocularis in dogs and cats as well as for elimination of immature E. multilocularis in cats as evidenced by the effectiveness of treatment 7 days post-infection. The treatments were well accepted and tolerated, and there were no adverse drug reactions observed.
authors.affiliation: KLIFOVET AG, Geyerspergerstr. 27, 80689, Munich, Germany. dejan.cvejic@klifovet.com.
authors.forename: Dejan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cvejic
authors.affiliation: KLIFOVET AG, Geyerspergerstr. 27, 80689, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Clinvet International Ltd, Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: Josephus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fourie
authors.affiliation: Clinvet International Ltd, Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Vos
authors.affiliation: Medical and R&D Department, Virbac SA, Carros Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Stephane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonneau
authors.affiliation: Medical and R&D Department, Virbac SA, Carros Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bernachon
authors.affiliation: KLIFOVET AG, Geyerspergerstr. 27, 80689, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hellmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004285:Dogs; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D048210:Echinococcus multilocularis / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D018942:Macrolides / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D059208:Parasite Load; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D018942:Macrolides; C078973:milbemycin oxime; D011223:Praziquantel
keywords: Cats; Dogs; E. multilocularis; Echinococcus; Milbemycin; Milpro®; Praziquantel