Closantel is a salicylanilide drug used for the treatment and control of fasciolosis in sheep and cattle. It is also active against Haemonchus contortus and the nasal bot, Oestrus ovis. In combination with benzimidazole derivatives, it is a broad-spectrum anthelmintic for the treatment and control of both nematodes and liver fluke infestations in sheep and cattle. Blindness in sheep has been associated with overdoses of closantel in Brazil (Borges and others 1999) and Australia (Gill and others 1999). Blindness due to a closantel/albendazole mixture was also recorded in Zimbabwe (Obwolo and others 1989). An episode of possible closantel toxicity occurred in the UK in 1998 (J. Wilmington, unpublished observations). This short communication describes the pathological findings of a confirmed incident in the UK. Retinopathy, optic neuropathy and myelin vacuolation in the brain stem, as previously described in association with closantel toxicity in sheep (Gill and others 1999, Obwolo and others 1989,Jubb and Huxtable 1993), were identified.
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