Investigation of benzimidazole resistance towards equine gastrointestinal nematodes in endurance horses

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, in partial requirement on the course DVT 55204 - Research Project. The majority of mammalian species are affected by nematode infestation, one of the serious gastrointestinal diseases. Horses are included and are reported to be infested frequently, causing various clinical problems and affects its performance in prolonged infestation. As preventative, deworming programs are commonly implemented, using anthelmintic drugs and routines of the veterinarian’s preference to curb the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases in horses. This is a pilot study to determine the resistance of Benzimidazole in a n endurance horse stable, as well as to conclude its efficacy to be used in those horses. In a population of horses that fits the inclusion criteria in this study, horses with Fecal Egg Count (FEC) >50 and have not been dewormed for the past 6 months were chosen and treated with Benzimidazole orally in an accurately calculated dose. The enrolled horses were screened for the criteria of Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) and divided into control and treatment groups with approximately similar means of fecal egg count (FEC). Fecal samples that were collected during pre- and post-treatments were subjected to Modified McMaster. Then, the resistance of the nematodes towards Benzimidazole in horses were determined using Faecal Egg Count Reduction test (FECRT) that was calculated according to the recommendation of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) for the detection of anthelmintics resistance. The Fecal Egg Count Reduction percentage in the stable was observed to be 94%. This shows suspected resistance towards benzimidazole has been developed in the endurance horses in the stable.
Keywords: Benzimidazole, Endurance horses, Nematodes, Anthelmintic Resistance