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Anthelmintic unresponsive diarrhoea in ewes and hoggs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

N F Suttle
Affiliation:
Moredun Research Institute, 408 Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh EH17 7JH
K McLean
Affiliation:
Moredun Research Institute, 408 Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh EH17 7JH
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Extract

Lambs from a Finnish Landrace flock at Moredun Research Institute are frequently affected by a diarrhoea which does not respond to anthelmintic. Three different drugs have been used (levamisole, albendazole and ivermectin) and there is no history of drug resistance at the site. By the normal rules of differential diagnosis, nematodiasis would be ruled out as a cause of the diarrhoea. However, seasonal, year-to-year and apparent breed differences in incidence led to the suggestion that outbreaks in autumn were caused by hypersensitive immune responses to the continuous ingestion of infective nematode larvae (Suttle, 1994). To maintain the nematode connection and distinguish the condition from those associated with anthelmintic resistance, it was described as an anthelmintic unresponsive diarrhoea (AUD). If the proposed aetiology is correct, one would expect hoggs to be affected in their second year of exposure to nematodes while lactating ewes with relaxed immunity might be less vulnerable. Furthermore, administration of anthelmintic in a slow release bolus might control AUD where monthly drenching failed.

Type
Beef & Sheep Production
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1995

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References

Suttle, N.F. (1994). Seasonal infections and nutritional status. Proc Nutr Soc 53, 545–55.10.1079/PNS19940064CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed