Potential New "Ground-Breaking" Treatment

USDA ARS recently announced a potential new "ground-breaking" treatment for internal parasites in small ruminants. "When the treatment was given to infected sheep at Virginia Tech there was a rapid and dramatic reduction of parasite reproduction and survival, without any negative effect observed in the sheep." said Dr. Anne Zajac, professor of parasitology at Virginia Tech's Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

The new treatment is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal protein 5B (Cry5B), a naturally occurring protein made by a bacterium widely and safely used around the world as a bio-insecticide. Cry5B is a paraprobiotic. Paraprobiotics are "inactive probiotics," or good bacteria that can still provide health benefits. Read USDA ARS news release Read journal article from Science Direct

Source: Int. J. Parasit. Drugs and Drug Resistance. December 2020