Comparative efficacy of flubendazole and a commercially available herbal wormer against natural infections of Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and intestinal Capillaria spp. in chickens.

The efficacy of a commercially available flubendazole-based product and a commercially available herbal product were compared against three species of helminth parasites of chickens: Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Capillaria spp. A total of 48 naturally infected chickens were used in the study with 16 birds in each of three treatment groups (untreated control; flubendazole; and a herbal product). One bird from each treatment group was necropsied on Day 0 prior to first treatment to confirm the parasite species present in the birds. Treatments were administered as labelled and the 45 remaining birds were necropsied on Day 12 and worm counts performed. Average worm counts in the two treated groups were compared to the untreated controls to calculate efficacy. Flubendazole (Group A) achieved an overall efficacy of 99.4% for the three parasite species. The herbal product (Group B) achieved efficacies ranging from less than zero to 11.6% for the three parasites, with worm counts not significantly different to the untreated controls. At present, commercially available herbal products claiming anthelmintic properties do not require licencing as veterinary medicinal products (Directive 2004/28/EC: see Article 17 and 33-38) and thus are not required to meet specific efficacy thresholds. Products which do not appear to deliver acceptable anthelmintic efficacy, are obviously a concern from many aspects but specifically from an animal welfare perspective.