Efficacy of ivermectin delivered from an intraruminal sustained-release bolus against natural infestations of five African tick species on cattle

The efficacy of ivermectin delivered by an orally administered prototype sustained-release bolus over approximately 90 days was evaluated against natural infestations of five African tick species. Twenty cattle, allocated by restricted randomization based on counts of standard Boophilus decoloratus, were allocated to two groups and were either given an ivermectin bolus or designated as non-medicated controls. All cattle grazed a single pasture of native grasses for 20-40 days before treatment and until trial termination. Starting on Days 27, 40, 68 and 82 after bolus administration, four replicates were confined to individual tick-collection stanchions for 4 to 5-day periods. Ticks recovered from these cattle were counted by species, sex, and stage and degree of repletion; engorged females were weighed and incubated to determine the number which oviposited. For the other replicates, half-body counts of adult ticks (classified by species, sex and degree of repletion by females) were made at 1- and 2-week intervals through Day 90. Among replicates confined to stanchions periodically, fewer (P less than 0.05) engorged adult female B. decoloratus, Hyalomma spp., Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi were collected from bolus-treated cattle than from controls. Numbers of engorged adult female Amblyomma hebraeum were reduced, but differences were not statistically significant (P greater than 0.10). Among cattle maintained continuously on pasture, tick numbers were reduced on the ivermectin-treated groups. A significant (P less than 0.05) treatment by linear time effect was seen for all adult ticks counted except R. appendiculatus. A significant (P less than 0.05) treatment by quadratic time effect was seen for A. hebraeum, B. decoloratus and R. evertsi evertsi, and overall treatment differences were significantly different (P less than 0.05) for these species. The differences tended to increase with time. Except for Boophilus, reductions in tick numbers on treated animals relative to controls were not readily apparent. There were no adverse reactions attributable to ivermectin treatment or the presence of the bolus. Each treated animal retained its bolus throughout the trial, based on metal detection.