Long-term follow-up of a single dose of fluralaner in nine dogs with demodicosis.

BACKGROUND: Long-term follow-up of oral fluralaner for canine demodicosis has not been demonstrated. OBJECTIVES: A multicentre prospective open trial for the efficacy of oral fluralaner for the long-term (>12 month) management of canine demodicosis. ANIMALS: Client-owned dogs diagnosed with demodicosis at nine veterinary clinics. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A single fluralaner dose was administered orally. Although shampoo was allowed to treat secondary pyoderma, no other medication or shampoo was allowed, except for medication for possible underlying disorders. Each dog underwent a thorough parasitological and dermatological assessment monthly for three months and was followed up for >12 months. RESULTS: Twenty-six dogs were enrolled. Their ages ranged from three months to 16 years. The cases were nine juvenile and 17 adult onsets; and 18 generalised and eight localised forms. Fluralaner administration resulted in 100% eradication of mites and complete resolution of all skin lesions at three months. Seventeen dogs were excluded from the one year follow-up evaluation as they had required a second dose of isoxazoline or died from causes unrelated to the fluralaner treatment. In the remaining nine cases, no relapse was observed in any of the dogs (six adult and three juvenile onsets; six generalised and three localised forms). Four dogs were monitored for over one year, one dog for over two years, and four dogs for three years. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The results indicated that a single dose of fluralaner could effectively deliver a long-term cure when combined with managing underling conditions.

Retrospective cohort study on combination therapy with the histamine H2-receptor antagonist lafutidine for antihistamine-resistant chronic urticaria.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating the efficacy and usefulness of the addition of lafutidine, a novel histamine H2-receptor antagonist, in treatment of patients with idiopathic chronic urticaria whose disease was not well controlled with histamine H1-receptor antagonists. Based on the assessment of global improvement, moderate or better improvement was achieved in 39 of 46 patients (85%) after 1-3 weeks of additional administration of lafutidine and 35 patients (76%) after 3 months. No incidence of drug-related adverse reactions was reported in any patient. Lafutidine was rated as useful or better in 34 patients (74%) after 3 months of treatment. The usefulness of the drug was not affected by differences in background factors, such as disease duration, previous treatment duration and the number of concomitant H1-receptor antagonists. Lafutidine appears to be a promising addition to histamine H1-receptor antagonist therapy for the treatment of chronic urticaria resistant to treatment with H1-receptor antagonists alone.