What is a small encysted larvae?
Small strongyles are a common parasite
of the horse. At any given time, 90% of a horse’s total worm burden may be small strongyles – with
as much as 75% of the encysted worms being early third-stage
larvae (EL3).
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How does my horse get small encysted strongyles?
Larvae ingested during grazing will
burrow in the large intestine and become encysted (EL3),
there they continue their development within the cyst
to the later stages larvae. The encysted strongyle takes
in some nutrients from the horse, but mostly it grows
and excretes waste. Then the larvae breaks out (excysts)
from the mucosal cyst, it is full of metabolic waste
that waste is dumps into the tissue and causes irritation
and physical damage to the gut lining, leading to colic
and other health problems.
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What are some of the clinical symptoms of encysted small strongyles?
Buildup of encysted larvae is a cause of concern. Encysted hypobiotic larvae synchronously emerge, causing damage to the cecal and colonic mucosa called Cyathostomosis. The clinical symptoms are : Listlessness, weakness, anorexia, recurring colic, diarrhea, weight loss.
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When are cyathostomosis more frequent?
Cyathostomosis occurs most often from winter to early spring in the north and late fall in the southern states as larvae emerge in mass.
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What are the usual treatments once a horse is diagnosed with acute cyathostomosis?
Your veterinarian will prescribe your
horse the best suited treatment; usually it consists of supportive
care, corticosteroid drugs, and anthelmintic treatment with
fenbendazole (active ingredient in Safe-Guard)
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What product
should I use to treat small encysted larvae?
Fenbendazole, the ingredient
in Safe-Guard Power-Dose is the only one FDA approved to
treat all stages of encysted small strongyles. Due to the
specific nature of the small encysted larvae (EL3),
only fenbendazole has shown efficacy. Other dewormers even
at double dosage kill only the adults present in the horse,
but if the encysted larvae does not ingest (eat) the dewormer
within 18 hours, the encysted larvae is not being killed.
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What is Safe-Guard Power-Dose efficacy?
Safe-Guard Power-Dose has been shown
to be 98% effective in killing encysted EL3,
and as much as 96% of the LL3/LL4 populations.
In contrast, ivermectin products at the labeled dose
or 5 time the labeled dose only has a limited effect
(0 – 42% reduction) on EL3’s and
LL3/LL4 stages*. Moxidectin (Quest)
is only labeled for treatment of L4 and adult
small strongyles, but not the EL3 larvae.
A treatment must be effective against all stages of the
small strongyles present in the horse. Most dewormers
are ineffective against the encysted stage (early stage)
of this parasite.
* Source: Klei,
1993, and Lyons, 1994
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What is the dosage of Safe-Guard Power-Dose?
Use one 57G syringe per 1250 lbs/day for 5 consecutive days.
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