Resistance of fasciola hepatica to triclabendazole, closantel, and rafoxanide in a sheep farm in sharazor district, Kurdistan-Iraq

Abstract EN

Fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepaticahas long been one of the most important helminthic infections of livestock in Iraq.

The control of this parasite is based on the use of anthelmintic agents, mainly triclabendazole and closantel.

Sheep on a farm in Tut Aghach village, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq died from liver fluke disease in spite of previous treatment with triclabendazole.

Thisstudy was conducted to investigate the effect of three commercially available anthelmintic agents – triclabendazole, closantel, and rafoxanide – against natural liver fluke infection in sheep.

Fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) was used to determine the efficacy of the drugs.

Treatment with triclabendazole resulted in 73.

9% reduction in fecal egg count (FEC) with the lower confidence interval of 61.

0%.

Closantel and rafoxanide reduced the FEC in the treated groups by 70.

1% and 70.

2%, respectively.

This study confirms the resistance to closantel, rafoxanide, and triclabendazole of the F.

hepatica from a sheep farm in Sharazor district, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.

A study of more farms from endemic areas in Iraq is required to evaluate the burden of resistance development against the common anthelmintic agents.