Lamb eimeriosis: applied treatment protocols in dairy sheep production systems

The effect of different treatment protocols using the triazinone compounds diclazuril and toltrazuril on Eimeria oocyst excretion, diarrhoea and weight gain was evaluated in the present study. The protocols were designed in order to best fit to common management practices in dairy production systems as applied in Greece. During the first two trials comparative preventive (11 days after birth) and therapeutic (18 days after birth) single treatments using either drug were performed on an intensive farm. In Trial 3 the efficacy of a repeated diclazuril treatment after weaning (at the start and 4 weeks later) of the animals in a semi-intensive farm was tested. The last trial was performed in order to assess the effect of a single oral dose of toltrazuril after weaning of the animals on the same farm. During an observation period of 6-7 weeks after treatment animals in all trials were clinically examined for diarrhoea and faecal samples were regularly monitored for Eimeria oocysts at weekly intervals. Body weight was also determined at the start and end of each trial. A single treatment with toltrazuril resulted in a significant reduction of oocyst excretion over the study period compared to the control, with very high efficacy values during the first 2-3 weeks after treatment, irrespective of the treatment protocol and the management system applied. This in general could not be confirmed in the protocols using diclazuril, which showed a much lower and mostly variable efficacy pattern.