Isolation of benzimidazole resistant strains of Ostertagia circumcincta from British sheep.

Two strains of Ostertagia circumcincta were isolated from sheep in Great Britain; one (CVL strain) from a breeding flock maintained at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, the other (H2 strain) from a commercial flock in southern England. Their resistance to benzimidazole anthelmintics was assessed by means of in vitro egg hatch assays and slaughter trials. In vitro egg hatch assays gave calculated ED50 estimates of 0.799 micrograms thiabendazole/ml for the CVL strain and 0.794 micrograms thiabendazole/ml for the H2 strain, compared with ED50 estimates of 0.038 micrograms thiabendazole/m and 0.036 micrograms thiabendazole/ml for two known susceptible strains of O circumcincta. There was a 40.7, 28.4 and 66.9 per cent reduction in the group mean worm burdens of lambs infected with the CVL strain following treatment with thiabendazole, fenbendazole and oxfendazole, respectively, and 23.8, 0.0, 79.6, 52.7, 99.9 and 100 per cent reduction in the group mean worm burdens of lambs infected with the H2 strain following treatment with thiabendazole, fenbendazole, oxfendazole, albendazole, levamisole and ivermectin, respectively. Detailed field histories for both strains are given.