Piperazine resistance in population-B equine strongyles: a study of selection in Thoroughbreds in Kentucky from 1966 through 1983.

Observations were completed over an 18-year period (1966 through 1983) in Thoroughbred mares (15/year) and yearlings (11 to 24/year) on a farm where benzimidazole-resistant small strongyles had emerged previously (1962 to 1965). This farm was operated as a closed, nonboarding type, which included a racing stable for its home-bred foals. At 2-week intervals, counts of worm eggs per gram of feces (EPG) and larvae per gram of feces were done to monitor strongyle infections and efficacies of bimonthly (every 8 weeks) antiparasitic treatments that were administered by stomach tube or were fed (dichlorvos pellets) to 1 group of yearlings during a 7-year period (1970 through 1976). The study included several drugs or mixtures, including thiabendazole (TBZ), phenothiazine (PTZ) + piperazine (PPZ)-carbon disulfide (CS2) complex, PTZ + PPZ + trichlorfon (TCF), dichlorvos, and pyrantel pamoate. These were used selectively in treated subgroups (usually 3/year) of mares and yearlings. The horses in drug treatment subgroups grazed together on common pastures; thus, efficacy comparisons between drugs were limited or nullified. However, annual mean EPG and larvae per gram of feces counts of mares and yearlings tended to increase over time, and for the yearlings treated with TBZ + PPZ and PTZ + PPZ-CS2, the buildup of these mean counts was statistically significant (P less than 0.05 for regression coefficients).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)