Treatment of scabies in goats caused by Sarcoptes scabiei mites with Ivermectin and Asuntol

Sarcoptes scabiei mite is a common parasite of goats in Indonesia and it is the cause of a serious skin disease called scabies or mange. A study has been carried out to examine method of treating the disease. A total of 25 goats, bought from local market and naturally infected with Sarcoptes were divided into 3 groups. One group of 9 goats was given Ivermectin (Ivomec, MSD AGVET, UK) subcutaneously at a dose rate of 0.2 mg/kg body weight on three occasions at intervals of 20 days. One group of 8 goats was dipped in an 0.1 percent Asuntol (Bayer, Indonesia) bath 5 times at 10 days intervals. The third group of 8 goats remain untreated. Both Ivermectin and Asuntol treatment led to a significant reduction in mite numbers, and in mortality rates of the goats. However during 90 days of the study complete resolutions of lesions was not seen and living mites persisted in some goats to the end of observation period. Further work is required to determine whether an increased dose rate of Ivermectin will completely cure the disease, as the drug and its method of administration would seem ideally suited for use in the villages.