Fifty-five dogs, naturally infected with Taenia sp or Dipylidium caninum or both, were assigned to the following treatment groups for dose titration studies with epsiprantel: nonmedicated control dogs (n = 14), medicated dogs given a dosage of 2.75 mg/kg of body weight (n = 15), medicated dogs given a dosage of 5.5 mg/kg (n = 16), and medicated dogs given a dosage of 8.25 mg/kg (n = 10). Medication was given orally in a tablet formulation. Feces were examined for cestodes passed and the gastrointestinal tract was examined at necropsy for retained cestodes. Efficacy of epsiprantel was 92.9% against Taenia and 44.8% against Dipylidium for a dosage of 2.75 mg/kg, 100% against Taenia and 99.8% against Dipylidium for a dosage of 5.5 mg/kg, and 94.6% against Taenia and 100% against Dipylidium for a dosage of 8.25 mg/kg. For dose confirmation, 36 dogs naturally infected with Taenia sp or D caninum or both were allotted to 2 treatment groups: nomedicated control dogs (n = 16) and dogs medicated with epsiprantel at a dosage of 5.5 mg/kg (n = 20). Efficacy was 100% for both Taenia sp and D caninum.

Studies were conducted to ascertain in vitro effects and effects of percutaneous application (in vivo) of dichlorvos (2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate; DDVP) on cholinesterase activities in bovine erythrocytes and plasma. Treatment in vitro of erythrocytes and plasma with DDVP resulted in concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and plasma cholinesterase (ChE) activities. Mean (+/- SD) DDVP concentrations required to cause 50% enzyme inhibition were 15.7 +/- 3.3 muM and 43.1 +/- 5.7 muM for AChE and ChE, respectively; however, these values required to achieve this inhibition were markedly decreased with increasing incubation time. The inhibited AChE activity failed to be reactivated after incubation of erythrocytes with 2-pyridine aldoxime methiodide (2-PAM); however, limited reactivation of inhibited AChE and ChE activities was observed with excess concentration of 2-PAM. Percutaneous application of a DDVP-containing livestock spray on cattle also caused a marked decrease in the in vivo activities of AChE and ChE; however, the inhibited enzyme activities were reactivated rapidly after incubation with 2-PAM.

Anthelmintic resistance against commonly used anthelmintics (ivermectin, levamisole, morantel and fenbendazole) was studied in naturally occurring gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes in adult sheep of unorganized sheep farms of district Ludhiana (Punjab). After qualitative and quantitative screening of faeces of 100 sheep, fifty sheep having eggs per gram of faeces (EPG) 500 were randomly selected and divided into five equal groups. Ivermectin @ 200 ìg/kg body weight and levamisole @ 7.5 mg/kg body weight, injected subcutaneously, in two different groups, were 99.08 and 98.17 per cent effective,respectively. Whereas, fenbendazole @ 7.5 mg/kg body weight and morantel citrate @ 6.0 mg/kg body weight, orally was 66.28 and 95.41 per cent effective and the fifth group was kept as untreated control with natural exposure to gastrointestinal nematodes. Hence, it was concluded that the naturally occurring GI nematodes of sheep were susceptible for ivermectin and levamisole, suspected for resistance against morantel citrate and were resistant to fenbendazole.