Cross resistance to the ionophorous polyether anticoccidial drugs in Eimeria tenella isolates from Czechoslovakia

Two field isolates of Eimeria tenella were isolated on farms where continuous outbreaks of coccidiosis in broilers had occurred over several years. The isolates were repeatedly tested for their sensitivity to ionophorous polyether drugs in floor pen trials lasting 7 wk. Hybro cockerels were inoculated with 25 x 10(3) oocysts/chicken at the age of 23 to 24 days. Total mortality, mortality caused by coccidia, live weights, feed conversion ratios, number of oocysts in litter, and titers of circulating antibodies against E. tenella were followed. Tested isolates were not controlled by the monovalent polyether drugs monensin, narasin, and salinomycin, but maduramicin, which is a monovalent monoglycoside polyether, and the bivalent polyether lasalocid controlled them effectively. This study indicates that coccidia that lose their sensitivity to a monovalent polyether drug lose the sensitivity to other monovalent polyethers, also, but might yet be effectively controlled by drugs from other classes of polyether antibiotics. This supports the hypothesis that there are differences in the mechanisms of anticoccidial activity of different classes of polyether antibiotics.