Strongyles burden monitoring in a flock treated with homeopathy

Background: Gastrointestinal parasites compromise the welfare and health of ruminants on pasture; moreover, they can cause serious productive losses. The constant and preventive strategy of anthelmintics treatments involves problems such as the increasing incidence of parasite resistance, the noncompliance with the consumer concerns regarding food and environment contamination and the obstacle in developing the natural immunity of the animal against helminths. Sustainable approaches to cope with such problems are the complementary and alternative curative methods and, among these, homeopathy could be used effectively. The entire flock is considered as a single individual and the various pathologies encountered are interpreted as the expression of the pathological tendency of the farm. Aim: The aim of this study was the monitoring of gastrointestinal parasite burden, body condition score (BCS) and FAMACHAassay in a flock of an Italian local breed sheep where the unicist homeopathic methodwas applied by the farm remedy. Method: The study lasted from March 2009 to February 2011 and involved 16 Zerasca sheep randomly selected in a farm located in the homonymous area. The homeopathic examination was performed at the beginning of the study and repeated the following year in order to fill the repertory schedule that list the proper remedies, applying the ‘similar principle’: information on medical history, environmental aspects, climate conditions, nutrition, farm characteristics, human–animal relationship and animal–animal dynamics was gathered. Iodum MK remedy was chosen from the list of the Mac Repertory programme at the first examination and Zincum XMK at the second one. Faecal samples were collected every 2 months to evaluate the faecal egg count (FEC), expressed as eggs per gram (EPG), with a modified Mc Master technique. Eggs dynamic was statistically analysed and data were logarithmically transformed to normalise variance. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the relationships between FAMACHA, BCS and FEC. Results: A significant effect of the date of sampling on fluctuation of FEC is observed but without a clear trend to put in relation with the season. Mean values were always under the threshold of health problems and only in one case values exceeded 300 EPG. FEC and FAMACHA correlations did not result significant, while FEC and BCS did. Conclusion: The study highlighted that with the monitoring of parasites and the use of homeopathy it is possible to limit chemical anthelmintic treatments.