Abstract
The sucking louse Haematopinus tuberculatus (Burmeister 1839) is an ectoparasite of buffaloes, cattle, camels, and American bison. Alphacypermethrin (ACYP) is a pyrethroid insecticide commonly used to control arthropods of veterinary and public health interest. Therapeutics, such as antiparasitic compounds, is often administered to buffaloes based on dosage and intervals recommended for cattle because very few drugs have buffalo-specific label indications. A trial was conducted on 20 louse-infested buffaloes at a farm to assess the efficacy and safety of ACYP pour-on, at the manufacturer’s recommended dose for cattle, on buffaloes naturally infested by H. tuberculatus. Ten animals were assigned to ACYP-treated group (ACYP-group) and ten to untreated control group (C-group). On day 0, all ACYP-group buffaloes received alphacypermethrin pour-on. Louse counts were performed on days −1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 at eight predilection sites on the skin of each buffalo. ACYP was completely effective (100 %) at day 7, highly effective (99.8 %) at day 14, and completely effective (100 %) from day 21 until the end of the study (day 56 post-treatment). During the trial, ACYP was well tolerated by all animals as there were no observed clinically adverse reactions. The results of this trial suggest that ACYP is an effective, safe, and user-friendly compound suitable for treatment of buffaloes with natural louse infestations.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the buffalo farmers Mr. Peppe and Tommaso Lanna for their kind collaboration to provide the facilities to carry out the research work. We wish to thank Dr. Francesco Boccarato and Dr. Ben Bleicher for the English language revision of the manuscript. We thank Dr. Andrea Bassini, Dr. Luca Miotto and Dr. Francesco Diuccio for their support and helpful suggestions concerning pharmacological and technical questions. This research was partially supported by a grant from the Pfizer Animal Health.
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Veneziano, V., Neglia, G., Cimmino, R. et al. The efficacy and safety of alphacypermethrin as a pour-on treatment for water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) infested with Haematopinus tuberculatus (Phthiraptera: Haematopinidae). Parasitol Res 112, 2907–2912 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3462-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3462-8