Artemether and tribendimidine lack activity in experimental treatment of Paragonimus westermani in the dog

Abstract

Artemether and tribendimidine are active against several trematode species, but no data are available regarding the lung fluke Paragonimus westermani. We infected six dogs with 100 P. westermani metacercariae each. At day 103 post-infection, four dogs were treated orally for 3 days with either artemether (total dose, 66.7 and 75 mg/kg) or tribendimidine (total dose, 100 mg/kg). The remaining dogs were left untreated and served as control. Sixteen days after the final dosing, dogs were killed, and P. westermani flukes were recovered from the lungs and counted. Neither artemether nor tribendimidine showed activity against P. westermani at this dose regimen in dogs.