The Problem of Escalating Resistance of Haemonchus Contortus to the Modern Anthelmintics in South Africa

During the past decade in South Africa there has been a continual increase in sheep of strains of gastrointestinal helminths resistant to the modern anthelmintics. Five strains of Haemonchus contortus are described in this paper. Despite the fact that 2 of the 5 strains were tested for susceptibility only to ivermectin, a total of 10 instances of resistance were found. Four of the 5 strains were resistant to ivermectin, 2 to closantel, 2 to rafoxanide and 2 to the benzimidazoles. One of these strains was concurrently resistant to 3 different anthelmintic groups, namely, the ivermectins, the benzimidazoles and the salicylanilides. Resistance to ivermectin developed in 2 strains of H. contortus after a history of only 3 treatments with this compound in one instance and 11 treatments in the other. In the latter case drenching with ivermectin was well interspersed with that of other anthelmintics. This rapid development of resistance suggests that there may be cross-resistance between ivermectin and another anthelmintic group. Two of the ivermectin resistant strains were recovered from separate properties in the south-western Cape Province, where Ostertagia circumcincta, which is usually the dominant parasite in this region, was virtually eliminated by the anthelmintic treatment. On each of these properties it was apparently replaced by a resistant strain of H. contortus. A serious threat to control is the dissemination of worm strains with multiple resistance to anthelmintics. The strain of H. contortus resistant to 3 anthelmintic groups has already been widely dispersed, as the farmer concerned suddenly decided to give up farming with sheep and to sell his flock.