Equine Parasite Control: Too Much or Too Little?
Martin Krarup Nielsen, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVM
June 13, 2012
Dr. Martin Nielsen of UK’s Gluck Equine Research Center presents recent equine parasite-control case studies.
Dr. Martin Nielsen of UK’s Gluck Equine Research Center presents recent equine parasite-control case studies.
Are you concerned about worms in your horses? If you’re not, you should be! Learn why we need to learn to live with the worms to a degree, and how to protect your horses while minimizing dewormer resistance.
Parasites should be viewed as a natural state, and we should recognize that even frequent treatments will not prevent them completely. Our goal is not to eliminate parasites, as history has shown us this is impossible and only leads to anthelmintic resistance. Instead, our goal should be to reduce parasite contamination levels in the environment and thereby keep parasite burdens under control.
It shouldn’t really surprise us: parasites are becoming increasingly resistant to the drugs we use. Bacteria are now increasingly resistant to antibiotics, malaria parasites are widely resistant to antimalarials, and parasites are no different. We should all learn the lesson from history.
Dr. Martin Nielsen of the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen reviews the controversial topic of whether or not tapeworms can be considered serious pathogens of the horse. His conclusions may impact your anthelmintic selection choices.
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