Chemotherapeutic and chemo-prophylactic efficacy of Kelamedium® an isometamidium
was evaluated in five medium dairy farms and two traditional herds with a number of
animals above 6 months age being 275 and 100 respectively. The trial also involved 42
smallholder dairy herds with 316 animals. The animals were clinically examined for
trypanosomosis signs then screened for haemoparasites using blood smears and
micro-centrifugation methods. Positive animals on smears were classified as “cases”
and were treated with a curative dose (1 mg/kg bodyweight) of Kelamidium® and
monitored for parasitological recovery on days three, six and nine. A total of six
“cases” were encountered and five which were treated with Kelamidium® showed
parasitogical and clinical recovery by days 3 and 9 respectively, whereas one animal
died. Smear negative animals were randomly assigned to two treatment groups; with
one group receiving a prophylactic dose (0.5 mg/kg) of Kelamidium® and the controls
being treated with the same dose of Samorin®. These animals were then monitored
clinically and re-screened on days 60 and 90-post intervention for re-infections.
Kelamidium® showed a prophylactic efficacy of 99.4% and this was comparable
(p>0.05) to that of Samorin® (99.7%). These results thus show that Kelamidium®
offers an alternative choice to Samorin®.
Kela (Hoogstraten Laboratories
Belgium)