Simple Summary
Infection by the parasite Dicrocoelium dendriticum has an impact on the production and health of sheep. Because the parasite cycle is complex, management is based on antiparasitic treatment. Albendazole at a dose of 15 mg/kg is known to be effective against the adult stages of D. dendriticum. Following a suspected lack of efficacy of this treatment in a French sheep farm, we carried out an efficacy test by treating 15 ewes at a dose of 15 mg/kg. We obtained a treatment efficacy of 39%, well below the 90% efficacy or more observed in other studies with the same compound at the same dosage. This lack of efficacy of albendazole on this farm is a warning for sheep farms, as there are no other active molecules against D. dendriticum currently available in France.
Abstract
Dicrocoeliosis is a common parasitic disease in European sheep farming. The prevalence of infection by this parasite can reach almost 70% in areas where the environment is favorable to intermediate hosts. In France, only one drug is currently available for the treatment of dicrocoeliosis: albendazole at a dose of 15 mg/kg in a single administration. However, a control coproscopy following a routine treatment led us to suspect that the efficacy of albendazole against Dicrocoelium dendriticum had diminished. Therefore, we carried out an efficacy test on 15 animals by treating them with albendazole at a dose of 15 mg/kg and performing a coproscopy on D0 and a control coproscopy 14 days later. We obtained a 39% reduction in the excretion of D. dendriticum eggs. This shows a reduction in the expected efficacy of albendazole, which is normally more than 90% in other studies involving this molecule at a dosage of 15 mg/kg. These results are of major concern as albendazole is currently the only drug available in France to treat dicrocoeliosis.