The activity of triclabendazole against immature and adult Fasciola hepatica infections in sheep

The efficiency of a new benzimidazole anthelmintic, triclabendazole, was tested against cumulative infections with Fasciola hepatica aged 1 to 12 weeks in sheep and compared with that of rafoxanide. At 10 mg/kg, triclabendazole was 99% effective in eliminating both immature and adult flukes. At a lower dose rate of 5 mg/kg, triclabendazole was highly effective against adults and significantly reduced the number of early immature flukes with an 87% overall reduction of fluke burden. Rafoxanide at 7.5 mg/kg showed high efficiency against adult fluke, but its effect on immatures was not significant, and overall efficiency was 64%.