Coping with Blackhead

[casportpony]

AMPROL (amprolium)
9.6% solution in a 3.8 L. jug. ($150 in canada)
each ml contains 96ml of amprolium
500ml makes 200L of medicated water.

The vet gave me this for blackhead.
One jug makes close to 800L of medicated water.
I will have this jug for life with my small amount of birds i have.

Amprolium (Amprol or Corid) does not treat blackhead, it treats coccidiosis, that is a fact! The only treatment I know of is metronidazole.

-Kathy

 

[wncpalm]

Thanks Kathy! Wow, I thought that it was just we poultry hobbyists that were confused and/or misinformed about the treatment of blackhead. But It looks there is some confusion and misinformation in the Veterinary community as well!

Here is a list of substances that were found to be effective (and ineffective) for treating blackhead in the research study that I referenced above: "Dimetridazole, metronidazole, ornidazole, and tinidazole were highly effective at 200 ppm in feed. Paromomycin sulfate, and carbadox were ineffective in vivo, with no improvement in liver or cecal lesion scores compared to that of infected controls."

Of these known effective treatments, dimetridazole has been banned for use with poultry in the US. This is not related to its effectiveness as a treatment for blackhead in poultry, but because of its carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on humans who consume treated poultry! Apparently this was once widely used in poultry food for commercial growers in the US. But the banning of this once widely used treatment may be what has confused some vets.

Metronidazole is widely used to treat various digestive disorders in dogs and cats, and should be readily available from a small animal veterinarian (or OTC for aquarium fish). The tablet form and dosage is not terribly convenient for administering to poultry, but consider the alternative (of not having an effective treatment for blackhead).

Ornidazole, and tinidazole are used to treat protozoan infections in humans and so would require a prescription from an MD. And so, as Kathy has been emphasizing, metronidazole is our best option for treating poultry with blackhead.

But note that the -idazole terminology suggests that all these effective antiprotozoan compounds have a common chemical base, so the concerns raised about human consumption of dimetridazole-treated poultry probably applies to these other compounds as well. So OK for pets but not for animals in the food chain.

 

[casportpony]

Did you know that one can get 100mg metronidazole tablets without a prescription? Just do a search for Meditrich.

-Kathy

 

[retlaw]

Amprolium (Amprol or Corid) does not treat blackhead, it treats coccidiosis, that is a fact! The only treatment I know of is metronidazole.

-Kathy

Well if that's the case i will be contacting the vet and having a chat with him.
Will let you know what they tell me.

 

[ivan3]

Metronidazole, AKA, Flagyl, is widely prescribed in the human population. The actual risks re: Dimetridazole?

Most recent review of all available lit. by Australian reg. body (with references to drill down through if one wishes): http://www.apvma.gov.au/products/review/docs/dimetridazole_final_report.pdf At least they would allow use in poultry not bound for the table.

 

[wncpalm]

My strategy has been to avoid the need for further metronidazole use by separating my turkeys from chicken carriers of blackhead and putting them on new ground that has not been contaminated with blackhead. So far, 9 months after treatment, I have reared 12 week old poults in my new turkey area without problems. But it would be good to have a source for 100mg metronidazole tablets, just in case.

That said, I'm not finding anything online for Medritech or for any 100mg metronidazole tablet, just 250mg and 500mg by prescription.

And as a followup to the human toxicity issue, here is a note from the Petmeds site:
Metronidazole is not FDA-approved for use in veterinary medicine; however, it is a commonly accepted practice for veterinarians to use this medication in dogs and cats.

 

[casportpony]

Sure wish I had some dirt that I knew was safe, 'cause I am worn out from looking after my peachicks and poults. I'm thinking about making a pen for this years chicks with horse stall mats on the ground, we'll see how that works.

The 100mg tablets are what the pigeon people use for canker.
http://www.amazon.com/MedPet-Meditrich-treatment-Trichomoniasis-cropcanker/dp/B007CAV8SY


One can also buy Dimetridazole in powder.


Since secondary infections like e. Coli and yeast are common in birds with blackhead, I also like to have meds to treat those. Clavamox is what I would pick first for e.Coli, but if I don't have it, I'll use Baytril (enrofloxacin).



Nystatin is what I use for yeast.



So far there's only one drug that I use that I haven't been able to find without a prescription, and that's Clavamox.

-Kathy

 

[retlaw]

I called the vet and the one in the office said AMPROL does work for blackhead but i said i don't believe it so they are going to get the vet that came here to call me.

I found this on the net,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/572970
Efficacy and compatibility of amprolium and carbarsone against Coccidiosis and blackhead in turkeys.

Amprolium and carbarsone were tested separately and in combination for efficacy in prevention of occidiosis and histomoniasis, respectively. In these studies, amprolium at .0125% in the diet was efficacious in prevention of coccidiosis, and carbarsone had no deleterious effects when fed simultaneously at .0375%. Carbarsone at .0250% was efficacious in prevention of histomoniasis, and amprolium had no deleterious effects when fed concurrently at .025%. These results indicated that both drugs could be used in combination without interference of efficacy against the target diseases.


any thoughts on this?

 

[retlaw]

http://www.kepro.nl/catalogus/product-3.html?ref=adv&ingredient=49&animal=0&type=0&cat=0

Amprolium 250 wsp is a concentrated powder of Amprolium HCl, water-soluble for use in drinking water of poultry, calves, lambs, young goats, cattle and sheep. It is used as a preventive or therapeutic agent against Eimeria infections in poultry, especially E. tenella, E. necatrix, E. acervulina and E. praecox. It is effective against other protozoal infections like Histomoniasis (Blackhead) in turkeys and poultry; against coccidiosis in calves, sheep, goats and pigs; against amaebiasis in various species.

 

[wncpalm]

Kathy, Thanks for all the drug info. You are providing a valuable resource for all the folks who will be dealing with the blackhead issue, both now and in the years ahead!

But as you noted, the remaining aspect of "coping with blackhead" for which we don't have a treatment solution is the soil contamination and reinfection cycle. I had no way of knowing for sure whether the new area that I selected was free of blackhead organisms in the soil. I just had to try it and see. And even now I am only cautiously optimistic, not sure beyond a reasonable doubt.

It is interesting that we can draw on pigeon and other pet and livestock practices for blackhead treatment chemicals. I wonder if someone "out there" has come up with a soil treatment for protozoans with ground cycles, like blackhead? Way out of my league to do this, but wouldn't it be great to stumble across something like this, already developed for some other livestock organism! Hope springs eternal!