Nematode burdens of pastured cattle treated once at turnout with eprinomectin extended-release injection

Abstract

The efficacy of eprinomectin in an extended-release injection (ERI) formulation was evaluated against infections with third-stage larvae or eggs of gastrointestinal and pulmonary nematodes in cattle under 120-day natural challenge conditions in a series of five studies conducted in the USA (three studies) and in Europe (two studies). For each study, 30 nematode-free (four studies) or 30 cattle harboring naturally acquired nematode infections (one study) were included. The cattle were of various breeds or crosses, weighed 107.5–273kg prior to treatment and aged approximately 4–11 months. For each study, animals were blocked based on pre-treatment bodyweight and then randomly allocated to treatment: ERI vehicle (control) at 1mL/50kg bodyweight or Eprinomectin 5% (w/v) ERI at 1mL/50kg bodyweight (1.0mg eprinomectin/kg) for a total of 15 and 15 animals in each group. Treatments were administered once on Day 0 by subcutaneous injection in front of the shoulder. In each study, all animals grazed one naturally contaminated pasture for 120 days. At regular intervals during the studies, fecal samples from all cattle were examined for nematode egg and larval counts. In four studies pairs of tracer cattle were used to monitor pasture infectivity at 28-day intervals before and/or during the grazing period. All calves were weighed before turnout onto pasture and at regular intervals until housing on Day 120. For parasite recovery, all study animals were humanely euthanized 27–30 days after removal from pasture.Cattle treated with Eprinomectin ERI had significantly (p<0.05) fewer strongylid eggs (≤1 egg per gram; egg count reduction≥94%) than the control cattle and zero lungworm larvae at each post-treatment time point. At euthanasia, cattle treated with Eprinomectin ERI had significantly (p<0.05) fewer of the following nematodes than the ERI vehicle-treated (control) cattle with overall reduction of nematode counts by >92%: Dictyocaulus viviparus (adults and fourth-stage larvae (L4), Bunostomum phlebotomum, Cooperia curticei, Cooperia oncophora, Cooperia punctata, Cooperia surnabada, Cooperia spp. inhibited L4, Haemonchus contortus, Haemonchus placei, Haemonchus spp. inhibited L4, Nematodirus helvetianus, Nematodirus spp. inhibited L4, Oesophagostomum radiatum, Oesophagostomum spp. inhibited L4, Ostertagia leptospicularis, Ostertagia lyrata, Ostertagia ostertagi, Ostertagia spp. inhibited L4, Trichostrongylus axei, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Trichostrongylus spp. inhibited L4, Trichuris discolor, and Trichuris ovis. Over the 120-day grazing period, Eprinomectin ERI-treated cattle gained between 4.8kg and 31kg more weight than the controls. This weight gain advantage was significant (p<0.05) in three studies.All animals accepted the treatment well. No adverse reaction to treatment was observed in any animal in any study.