Clinical efficacy and tolerance of miltefosine in the treatment of canine leishmaniosis.

The study was aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerance profiles of an oral administration miltefosine drug (Milteforan(R), Virbac) in dogs with natural leishmaniosis. In this multicentric open trial, 96 dogs were treated with the drug administered orally at a dose of 2 mg/kg body weight once a day for 28 days. During the 56-day trial, clinical signs of the dogs were monitored every 2 weeks. On the first and the last visits, blood and bone marrow samples were collected for laboratory analyses. According to clinical scores, the treatment demonstrated a significant time-dependent therapeutic effect resulting in a 61.2% mean reduction on day 56. Hematologic and biochemical analyses showed improvements in most of the parameters examined, supporting the observed clinical efficacy of the drug. Overall, veterinarians estimated that 82.7% of the dogs treated with the miltefosine drug showed an equal or higher treatment efficacy than other antileishmanial drugs. During the trial, the adverse reactions probably associated with the drug treatment were observed in 11.7% of the dogs. However, they were not serious. The most frequent one was vomiting, which was transient, self-limiting, and reversible. These data demonstrate that the drug, at the recommended dose and treatment regime, was safe and efficacious for the treatment of canine leishmaniosis.

Anthelmintic efficacies of a tablet formula of ivermectin-praziquantel on horses experimentally infected with three Strongylus species.

In this blinded randomized and controlled study, the anthelmintic efficacy of a tablet formula of ivermectin-praziquantel was evaluated in horses experimentally infected with three species of Strongylus larvae. Eighteen previously dewormed horses were inoculated on study day 0 with third-stage larvae of Strongylus vulgaris, Strongylus equinus, and Strongylus edentatus. The horses were randomly allocated to three groups (n = 6): test-drug (tablet formula), positive-control (reference gel), and negative-control (placebo tablet). On day 56, the horses were treated once with the respective drugs. On day 95, the horses were sacrificed, and necropsy examinations were performed to assess the status of the parasite burden (L4 and immature L5) and pathological lesions on selected organs and tissues. By the criteria of worm counts, the test-drug and positive-control showed, respectively, 100% and 97.3% anthelmintic efficacies on S. vulgaris, 100% and 81.4% on S. equinus, and equally 100% on S. edentatus. However, the efficacies on S. equinus and S. edentatus should be taken only as face values considering their respective low worm counts in the placebo group. The S. vulgaris-induced arterial lesions were also reduced in the test-drug and positive-control groups with efficacies of 73.9% and 62.9%, respectively. No adverse reactions were observed with either of the drugs. Our data demonstrate that the Equimax tablet formula was as safe and efficacious as the gel formula anthelmintic on large strongyles in horses.

Treatment of canine parvoviral enteritis with interferon-omega in a placebo-controlled challenge trial.

Canine parvoviral enteritis continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality in dogs worldwide, and efficacious antiviral therapies are lacking. The present trial was aimed at evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of a recombinant feline interferon (type omega) preparation in the treatment of parvoviral enteritis in dogs. A double-blind, placebo-controlled challenge trial was performed in beagle pups (8-9 weeks); clinical signs, body weight, hematologic parameters, and mortality were monitored for a period of 14 days after challenge. Fourteen animals were inoculated with virulent canine parvovirus; 10 animals that developed clinical signs thereby meeting the inclusion criteria were admitted to the treatment phase in two randomly selected groups (placebo and IFN) of equal size. The IFN group received daily intravenous injections of rFeIFN-omega (2.5 MU/kg) for three consecutive days. The placebo group received daily injections of saline without IFN. Both groups of animals received individual supportive treatment consisting of adjusted diet and electrolyte solution. All five dogs in the placebo group developed fulminating enteritis with typical clinical signs and died within 10 days post-inoculation (or 6 days post-treatment). In the IFN-treated group, one animal died on day 2 after the treatment was started, whereas the other four dogs survived the challenge and gradually recovered. Our data confirm that the rFeIFN-omega can exert a significant therapeutic effect on dogs with parvoviral enteritis by improving clinical signs and reducing mortality.

Therapeutic effects of recombinant feline interferon-omega on feline leukemia virus (FeLV)-infected and FeLV/feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-coinfected symptomatic cats.

The clinical efficacy of a recombinant feline interferon, rFeIFN-omega, was evaluated for the treatment of cats presented with clinical signs associated with feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection and FeLV/feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) coinfection in the field. In this multicentric, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 81 cats meeting the inclusion criteria were randomly placed into 2 groups and treated subcutaneously with rFelFN-omega (1 million [M]U/kg per day) or placebo once daily for 5 consecutive days in 3 series (day 0, 14, 60). The cats were monitored for up to 1 year for clinical signs and mortality. During the initial 4-month period, interferon (IFN)-treated cats (n = 39) had significantly reduced clinical scores compared with placebo (n = 42), with all cats having received concomitant supportive therapies. Compared with the control, the IFN-treated group showed significantly lower rates of mortality: 39% versus 59% (1.7-fold higher risk of death for controls) at the 9-month time point and 47% versus 59% (1.4-fold higher risk of death for controls) at the 12-month time point. The IFN treatment was associated with minor but consistent improvement in abnormal hematologic parameters (red blood cell count, packed cell volume, and white blood cell count), apparently underlying the positive effects of IFN on clinical parameters. These data demonstrate that rFeIFN-omega initially has statistically significant therapeutic effects on clinical signs and later on survival of cats with clinical signs associated with FeLV infection and FeLV/FIV coinfection.

Protective Efficacy of the Calicivirus Valency of the Leucofeligen Vaccine against a Virulent Heterologous Challenge in Kittens.

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is a common feline pathogen with a potential for antigenic diversity. This study aimed to evaluate and characterize the protective efficacy of the FCV-F9 valency of a tetravalent vaccine, Leucofeligen, against challenge with an unrelated strain. Ten 9-week-old kittens were vaccinated while 10 remained as unvaccinated controls. The vaccinated cats received Leucofeligen twice subcutaneously with a 3-week interval. Four weeks after the second vaccination, all cats were challenged with virulent heterologous FCV and followed up for 21 days, monitoring their general condition, clinical signs, and immunological responses. During the vaccination phase, rectal temperatures and body weights were indistinguishable between the two groups. Only vaccinated cats showed FCV-specific seroconversion (both total and neutralizing antibodies). In the first week after challenge, the vaccinated cats had an 82.6% reduction in median clinical score compared to controls. Leucofeligen was thus shown to provide a significant clinical protection to kittens challenged with heterologous virulent FCV. This protection was similar whether the cats had neutralizing antibody or not, indicating a key role for cellular immunity in the overall protection. This also suggests that previously reported seroneutralisation studies may underestimate the level of cross-protection against field strains obtained with this modified live FCV-F9 vaccine.