Albendazole therapy for experimentally induced Paragonimus kellicotti infection in cats

The effect of albendazole therapy was studied in 6 cats with pulmonary paragonimiasis induced by experimental inoculation of metacercariae (25/cat) of Paragonimus kellicotti. At 76 to 101 days after they were inoculated, 5 cats were administered an oral aqueous suspension of albendazole in 2 divided doses totaling 20 mg (2 cats), 50 mg (1 cat), or 100 mg (2 cats)/kg of body weight each day for 14 to 21 days. The 6th cat (control) was not administered albendazole. Nine days after cats were given the 50- and 100-mg/kg dosages, Paragonimus ova were not seen in the feces of 3 cats. There was marked reduction in ova production in the feces of the 2 cats administered 20 mg/kg of albendazole. Live flukes were not recovered from the lungs of 3 cats necropsied 4 or 5 weeks after dosing with 50 or 100 mg/kg, but the lungs of the 2 cats administered 20 mg of albendazole/kg yielded 9 and 7 apparently viable flukes. Seventeen live flukes were recovered from the control cat not treated with albendazole. In 4 noninoculated normal cats administered 20 mg (1 cat), 100 mg (1 cat), and 200 mg (2 cats) of albendazole/kg of body weight each day for 14 days, there were no gross or microscopic lesions attributable to the drug.