Anticoccidial and hepatoprotective effects of artemisinin liquid extract, cinnamon essential oil and clove essential oil against Eimeria stiedae infection in rabbits.

Coccidiosis is one of the most dangerous diseases that affect poultry, resulting in worldwide economic losses. Plant extracts and essential oils have been used as potential alternatives for chemotherapeutics, because they don't have the negative consequence of creating tissue residue and drug resistance. Therefore, this study had been conducted to determine the efficacy of artemisinin liquid extract, cinnamon essential oil and clove essential oil against Eimeria stiedae in rabbits. Sixty New Zealand white rabbits were divided into six equal groups, where group 1 and group 2 represented the negative and the positive controls, respectively, and groups 3-6 were infected with Eimeria stiedae and received 15 ppm toltrazuril, 200 ppm artemisinin, 100 mg/kg cinnamon oil, and 100 mg/kg clove oil, respectively. The results showed that artemisinin had a significant beneficial role in protection against hepatic coccidiosis: it mitigated the clinical symptoms, reduced the mortality rates, improved body weight and feed conversion, decreased the oocyst output, prevented oxidative stress, improved biochemical parameters, and decreased the lesion formation. Moreover, it has been found that cinnamon and clove essential oils induced partial protection against hepatic coccidiosis. Our findings suggested that artemisinin liquid extract and cinnamon and clove essential oils could be used for protection against hepatic coccidiosis. However, further investigations are needed in order to elucidate the active components, optimal doses, and mode of action of these extracts and essential oils before their clinical applications.

A trial of doramectin injection and ivermectin spot-on for treatment of rabbits artificially infested with the ear mite "Psoroptes cuniculi".

The ear mite "Psoroptes cuniculi" is the main cause of ear mange, a highly contagious parasitic skin disease in rabbits all over the world. In the current work, a preliminary therapeutic trial to study the effect of the broad use acaricides doramectin and ivermectin on P. cuniculi was performed on artificially infested rabbits. Twenty five adult New Zealand white rabbits were used in this study. The rabbits were assigned randomly into five groups/ 5 rabbits in each group. Each rabbit was experimentally infested with 100 mites/ ear. The first group was designated the positive control group and was not treated. The second and third groups were treated with doramectin 200 and 400 µg/kg bw, respectively. Groups 4 and 5 were treated by dressing with ivermectin in one dose and 2 doses with a 1 week interval. After the therapy, all rabbits were examined microscopically on the 7th, 14th, and 28th day post treatment and the number of live mites (larvae, nymphs, and adults) on each rabbit was counted at the end of the experiment (28th day). The results showed that the rabbits treated subcutaneously with doramectin at a single dose of 200 µg /kg bw showed a very low effect, although there was significant improvement when the dose was doubled to 400 µg /kg bw, with the number of mites counted decreasing significantly. Rabbits treated topically with ivermectin spot-on, a single dose or 2 doses, showed great improvement of the lesion: the number of mites was reduced to zero. In conclusion, this work showed that ivermectin spot-on applied locally on infested ears proves to be more effective against P. cuniculi than doramectin injected subcutaneously. Further trials on ear mange therapeutics in rabbits are to be encouraged.