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Horse health breakthrough
Published Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 05:59 AM
Agricultural Research Service scientists have discovered that a drug commonly used to treat cattle and sometimes dogs for a blood parasite can, at a relatively high dose, completely eliminate the parasite from horses. Researchers also found that the drug not only eliminated Babesia caballi, but also left the horses incapable of transmitting the parasite. Babesia caballi is a blood parasite transmitted by ticks and its one of the culprits behind the disease babesiosis in horses. Equine babesiosis is also caused by another blood parasite called Babesia equi. The drug, imidocarb dipropionate, has been used in the United States for many years to treat diseases like Texas fever, also referred to as cattle fever or babesiosis in cattle.

In the United States, babesiosis is considered a foreign disease in horses, though it is common in nearby locales including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. It is important to assure complete parasite elimination because infected horses can appear healthy, but can still transmit the disease.

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