Infecção por Eimeria spp. em búfalos jovens e avaliação de esquemas terapêuticos metafiláticos

Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) breeding is nowadays a growing activity in several continents not only for its best fitting to tropical conditions but also for its milk and meat production demands. Physiological features of the bubaline species combined with handling practices in use to raise cattle propitiate young animal infection by parasites of gender Eimeria. The impact of the infection by parasites on buffaloes is acknowledged worldwide wherever eimeriosis in young animals is prominent for its high morbidity and mortality. For the analysis of the circumstances involved in the development of the disease caused by the protozoan genus Eimeria infection of buffalo calves, predisposition factors to this kind of disease were assessed. Epidemiological studies of the infection course by Eimeria sp. in animals exposed to the natural infection, the analysis of the clinical alterations in infected animals, the efficacy of the administration of sulfaquinoxaline sodium, amprolium, toltrazuril and decoquinate in calves for infection control, besides the analysis of the disease impact on the productivity of the bubaline cattle were made. The efficacy of treatments was assessed through the comparison of the number of Eimeria sp. oocysts diagnosed in the feces examination of the animals composing the experimental groups. The identification of the Eimeria species found by the analysis of its morphological characteristics verified both the efficacy of the drugs for each species and allowed to establish a mutual relation of the clinical alterations observed in animals with the existing species. The analyzed control methodologies were efficient for the animal mortality decrease, and different responses were assessed both in the relation animals / evaluated drugs, and in the control group, not medicated. The treatment of bubaline calves with oral toltrazuril in single dosage of 15mg/kg of body weight on the seventh day of life when the animals had been exposed to the natural infection by Eimeria sp. Proved increased efficiency for the control of the natural infection by Eimeria sp as compared to the other assessed protocols.