Oxantel pamoate

BACKGROUND: Kennel dogs are at the high risk of infections with intestinal and extra-intestinal helminths. Therefore, regular parasitological surveillance, appropriate treatment strategies and high quality standard of hygiene are required to guarantee the health and welfare of kennel dogs. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of helminth control in kennels using different broad-spectrum anthelmintics that are routinely used in canine veterinary practice. Particular attention was given to the field efficacy and ease-of-use of each product.

Helminth infections are responsible for a considerable public health burden, yet the current drug armamentarium is small. Given the high cost of drug discovery and development, the high failure rates and the long duration to develop novel treatments, drug repurposing circumvents these obstacles by finding new uses for compounds other than those they were initially intended to treat. In the present review, we summarize in vivo and clinical trial findings testing clinical candidates and marketed drugs against schistosomes, food-borne trematodes, soil-transmitted helminths, Strongyloides stercoralis, the major human filariases lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, taeniasis, neurocysticercosis and echinococcosis. While expanding the applications of broad-spectrum or veterinary anthelmintics continues to fuel alternative treatment options, antimalarials, antibiotics, antiprotozoals and anticancer agents appear to be producing fruitful results as well.