Recent developments in ectoparasiticides

The sales and use of ectoparasiticides for the control of arthropod parasit es of domestic animals constitute a major sector of the global animal healt h market. Animals are infected by a number of parasitic insect and acarine species causing major economic losses in production livestock, intense irri tation and skin disease in companion animals, or public health issues, incl uding bites of humans or zoonotic disease transmission. Dog and cat fleas, for example, can be a serious source of both animal and human irritation, w hich has led to a rapid expansion in the development of flea control produc ts. The control of ectoparasite infections of veterinary importance still r elies heavily on the use of chemicals that target the arthropod nervous sys tem. Such compounds have suffered from a number of drawbacks, including the development of resistance and concerns over human and environmental safety . The search for safer technologies has, however, been hindered by the limi ted number of active target sites present in arthropods and, to some degree , by the ever-increasing costs of research and development of compounds wit h novel modes of action. This review provides a background to the currently available groups of ecto parasiticide compounds used in veterinary medicine and highlights some of t he more recent developments including the introduction of insect growth reg ulators and new and improved methods of product application. (C) 2001 Harco urt Publishers Ltd.