Efficacy of fenbendazole formulated in a commercial primate diet for treating specific pathogen-free baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis) infected with Trichuris trichiura.

Trichuris trichiura is a common intestinal nematode parasite of captive baboons. We evaluated the efficacy of fenbendazole formulated in a commercial primate diet (FBZ-PD) for treating specific pathogen-free (SPF) baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis) naturally infected with Trichuris trichiura. Twenty-nine baboons, housed indoors in 3 separate rooms, were fed FBZ-PD for 5 d, whereas 4 baboons housed in another isolated area served as untreated controls. The efficacy of FBZ-PD was measured as reduction in the number of T. trichiura eggs in host feces after treatment as determined by quantitative fecal flotation examination. All baboons that received FBZ-PD stopped shedding T. trichiura eggs by 7 d after initiation of treatment, and remained negative until at least 119 d after treatment. However, eggs of T. trichiura were present in the feces of 3 (10.3%) experimental baboons at 154 d after treatment. Untreated control baboons shed T. trichiura eggs throughout the entire study. Our results indicate that FBZ-PD was efficacious for treating SPF baboons infected with T. trichiura.