The pharmacokinetics and efficacy of long-term low-level and split-dose administration of albendazole through in-feed formulations against ovine and caprine parasitic gastroenteritis.

Two trials were conducted against natural and experimentally induced parasitic gastroenteritis in sheep and goats using an in-feed formulation of albendazole to evaluate its therapeutic and prophylactic efficacy. In the first trial, albendazole was incorporated in feed pellets to deliver an average daily dose of 0.7 mg/kg body weight in order to evaluate its prophylactic efficacy. In the second trial, feed pellets were offered to deliver an average total dose of 8.0 mg/kg body weight in two equal split doses in order to evaluate its curative efficacy. Sustained plasma concentrations of the active compound, albendazole sulphoxide, and its metabolite albendazole sulphone, sufficient to prevent establishment of infection, were achieved when the animals were allowed to feed on medicated pellets for 10 consecutive days. The bioavailability of the metabolites of albendazole following the administration of a therapeutic dose in two split doses of the in-feed formulation was sufficient to remove established adult nematodes. The concentrate feed pellets could be used for self-medicating small ruminants for therapeutic use as well as for prophylaxis based on their strategic use appropriate to the epidemiology of the parasitic disease.