Clinical efficacy of fenbendazole against gastrointestinal parasites in llamas

Llamas or South American Camelids (SACs) are increasingly popular in the Un ited States, as a source of fiber, livestock guard, and pack animals. Gastr ointestinal parasites have been identified as a major health problems in al l classes of livestock including llamas. Currently there are no approved an thelmintics available for use in llamas. In this study, fenbendazole was ev aluated for its clinical efficacy in the control of gastrointestinal parasi tism in llamas. Twelve, healthy, young adult llamas of both sexes naturally infested with Nematodirus, Strongyloides, Trichuris, and Capillaria were r andomly divided into two groups. One group received a single oral dose of f enbendazole paste at 5 mg/kg. The second group received a comparable dose o f water as a placebo. Fecal samples were obtained per rectum from each anim al prior to administration of either the drug or placebo treatment and week ly thereafter. These samples were analyzed for total fecal egg burden using a modified Wisconsin sugar floatation technique. The fenbendazole treated group had a significant reductions in total fecal egg counts of 95%, 84%, 8 9% and 76%, respectively, for each week of the four-week sampling period. N ematodirus, Strongyloides, and Trichuris all had significant reductions in egg counts during the study period All animals were observed twice daily du ring the experiment. All animals remained healthy and showed no adverse eff ects related to treatment. These results indicate that fenbendazole is a sa fe and an effective anthelmintic for the treatment of naturally occurring g astrointestinal parasite infestations of Nematodirus, Strongyloides, and Tr ichuris in llamas. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r eserved.