Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Atovaquone and proguanil reduce Babesia gibsoni in infected dogs
By Iguchi, Aiko et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2013·Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The in vitro interactions and in vivo efficacy of atovaquone and proguanil against Babesia gibsoni infection in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Two dogs with Babesia gibsoni infection, a serious blood parasite, were treated with a combination of atovaquone and proguanil, known as Malarone. This treatment helped reduce the parasites in their blood and improved their overall health. However, both dogs experienced a relapse of the infection later on, and one dog had mild side effects like vomiting and elevated liver enzymes. Despite the initial success, the infection returned due to a genetic change in the parasite.
People also search for: dog Babesia gibsoni treatment · Malarone for dogs · dog vomiting after medication
Abstract
In vitro interactions between atovaquone (ATV) and proguanil (PG) against Babesia gibsoni and the clinical efficacy of this combination therapy using Malarone(®) which is the antimalarial drug containing ATV and PG were evaluated. This combination showed synergism against uncloned wild-type and ATV-resistant B. gibsoni in vitro examinations using a modified fixed ratio method. Administration of Malarone(®) to experimentally B. gibsoni infected two dogs in chronic stage and three dogs in acute stage resulted in decrease in parasitemia, and clinical improvements were observed. However, all dogs showed relapse of parasitic infection with a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the cytchrome b gene (M121I). Some side effects were confirmed: self-limiting vomiting in two dogs and hyperphosphatasia in another dog. Mild increases in the levels of alanine aminotransferase were confirmed in two dogs. This is the first study to evaluate the interactions in vitro and the clinical efficacy of ATV and PG against canine B. gibsoni infection in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24075418/