Screening of five drugs for efficacy against Babesia felis in experimentallyinfected catsABSTRACTThe efficacy of 5 drugs was tested against experimental Babesia felis infection in domesticcats. Two of the drugs, rifampicin and a sulphadiazine-trimethoprim combination,appeared to have an anti-parasitic effect, but were inferior to primaquine. The other 3drugs, buparvaquone, enrofloxacin and danofloxacin, had no significant anti-babesialeffect.Key words: Babesia felis, buparvaquone, cats, chemotherapy, danofloxacin, enrofloxacin,primaquine, sulphadiazine, trimethoprim.Penzhorn B L, Lewis B D, López-Rebollar L M, Swan G E Screening of five drugs forefficacy against Babesia felis in experimentally infected cats. Journal of the South AfricanVeterinary Association (2000) 71(1): 53–57 (En.). Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases,Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110South Africa.INTRODUCTIONAlthough Babesia felis, a small piro-plasm, was first described from a wild-caught African wild cat Felis sylvestris(syn: Felis ocreata24) in the Sudan in 19297,feline babesiosis in domestic cats has onlybeen reported from South Africa, where itis regarded as endemic in the entire east-ern and southern coastal strip fromKwaZulu-Natal to the Western Cape18. Afocus of feline babesiosis has recentlybeen identified at Kaapschehoop inMpumalanga16.Until 1980, tetracyclines, sometimesused in combination with trypan blue,and cephaloridine were recommendedfor treatment of feline babesiosis4,8,19. In1981 Potgieter18 investigated the efficacyof 10 drugs for treating B. felis infections.Primaquine phosphate (Primaquine,Centaur), administered per os or intra-muscularly was found to be highly effec-tive and the obvious drug of choice. Theside- and toxic effects of primaquine areundesirable, however. It frequentlycauses vomition when administeredorally and mortality if administered indoses exceeding 1 mg/kg. Additionally,primaquine does not sterilise the parasiteinfection18.
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