Brand: VSD SPURT ® Off-shears Pour-on
Company: WSD
FORMULATION: ready-to-use «pour-on» for topical administration as a single strip along the backline.
ACTIVE INGREDIENT(S): cypermethrin: 2.5% = 25 g/L
CHEMICAL CLASS of the active ingredient(s): synthetic pyrethroids
INDICATIONS: SHEEP & LAMBS
PARASITES CONTROLLED (spectrum of activity)
- Body lice (Bovicola = Damalinia ovis) off-shears
RECOMMENDED DOSE & use instructions
- 1mL product per 5 Kg body weight.
- The correct dose for the weight range of sheep should be applied as a single continuous strip 20-40cm in length down the middle of the back within 24 hours of shearing.
- It is recommended that treated sheep be held together in the yards for 2 hours after treatments and not be let straight out of the race into the paddock.
Read the complete product label carefully and ensure thorough accomplishment of all the use instructions.
SAFETY
- LD50 (acute oral) in rats: for the a.i. 250 mg/kg (in corn oil) to 5150 mg/kg in water
- LD50 (acute dermal) in rats: for the a.i. >4920 mg/kg
- Estimated hazard class of the product according to the WHO: III, slightly hazardous
Suspected poisoning? Read the article on cypermethrin safety in this site.
Withholding periods (=withdrawal times) in days for meat & milk (country-specific differences may apply: read the product label)
- Meat: Australia: 3 days (ESI = 14 days)
- Milk: Australia: DO NOT USE on female sheep which are producing or may in the future produce milk or milk products for human consumption
- Wool: Australia: 2 months
WARNING !!!: Never use on humans, dogs or cats. Synthetic pyrethroids are toxic to cats!
2nd-generation synthetic pyrethroids (e.g. cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, permethrin, etc.) are irritant to the eyes and the skin, both of humans and livestock. The inert ingredients in the formulation may worsen this side effect. Irritation can be particularly problematic for dairy cows because it can significantly hinder handling for milking.
You may be interested in the following articles in this site dealing with the general safety of veterinary products:
- Safety for humans
- Safety for domestic animals
- Safety for the environment
- Hazard classifications of pesticides
RESISTANCE PREVENTION
Risk of resistance? YES, resistance of body body lice (Bovicola ovis) to synthetic pyrethroids (incl. cypermethrin) is widespread in Australia, and can be very high. It has also been reported in New Zealand.
This means that if this product does not achieve the expected efficacy against the mentioned parasites, it can be due to resistance and not to incorrect use, which is usually the most frequent cause of product failure.
Alternative chemical classes/active ingredients to prevent resistance of external parasites through product rotation:
- Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs): (e.g. diflubenzuron, triflumuron)
- Neonicotinoids (e.g. imidacloprid, thiacloprid)
- Macrocyclic lactones (e.g. doramectin, eprinomectin, ivermectin, moxidectin, etc.). Drenches are ineffective against most external parasites.
- Spinosad
These alternative products may not be available in all countries, or may not be available as ready-to-use pour-ons, or may not be effective against all the concerned parasites.
Learn more about resistance and how it develops.
MARKETING
Are the active ingredients of this product ORIGINAL* or GENERICS**?
- GENERICS
*Meaning that they are still patent protected and generics are not yet available
**Meaning that they have lost patent protection and may be acquired from manufacturers of generic active ingredients other than the holder of the original patent.
COUNTRIES where this brand/product is marketed: Australia
GENERIC BRANDS available? YES, but maybe not with the same indications. This product itself contains generic cypermethrin and is marketed in Australia by WSD.
Click here to learn more about GENERIC vs. ORIGINAL drugs.
For an overview on the most used antiparasitic pour-on brands click here.
COMMENTS
WSD SPURT for sheep is one of the few products with a synthetic pyrethroid still marketed for the control of body lice and blowfly strike prevention in Australia. The reason is that body lice has developed high resistance to synthetic pyrethroids in numerous regions.
Cypermethrin is one of several Type-II synthetic pyrethroids introduced by ICI & SHELL in the 1970s. Worldwide it is massively used in veterinary products as well as in agricultural and hygiene pesticides.
All synthetic pyrethroids are veteran pesticides developed in the 1970s-1980s and are basically contact insecticides. This means that when the parasite comes in contact with it (e.g., during the blood meal, after landing on a treated host, etc), the active ingredient that impregnates the host's hair coat penetrates through the cuticle of the parasite (the "skin" of insects and other arthropods) into its organism and disturbs essential biological processes in the parasite's body, in this case its nervous system.
After administration to livestock or other mammals, synthetic pyrethroids do not have a systemic mode of action, i.e. they are not transmitted to the parasite through the blood or the host. Topically administered synthetic pyrethroids are very poorly absorbed through the skin of the hosts, and what is absorbed is quickly broken down and/or excreted. Consequently the concentration reached in the blood is too low to kill blood-sucking parasites. But this is why they are considered rather safe for mammals, both humans and livestock (cats are an exception: pyrethroids are toxic to them!) and why they leave rather low residues.
All ready-to-use pour-ons and spray-ons containing contact insecticides such as synthetic pyrethroids have the same weakness: they are applied on the back of the animal and spread more or less quickly along the hair coat to other parts of the body, but coverage is usually not homogeneous and some parts of the body are not or only poorly reached. How fast and complete the spreading is depends on a lot of factors (e.g. distance to the delivery point, rain, animal behavior such as grooming, licking, rubbing, etc.) but also on the inert ingredients in the formulation, which may or may not favor spreading. In any case, compared with the backline the concentration of the active ingredient will be significantly lower in body parts that are difficult to reach (e.g. udders, perineum, below the tail, inside the ears, etc), where some parasites may survive because the concentration is not high enough to kill them. Irregular spreading may also cause chronic exposure of some parasites to sub-lethal doses, which is known to favor development of resistance.
It is useful to know that the active ingredients of many synthetic pyrethroids consist in a mixture of various optical isomers, typically those called "cis", and those called "trans". Cypermethrin has 8 isomers, 4 cis and 4 trans. Manufacturers of active ingredients usually supply the raw material in standard qualities, for cypermethrin typically e.g. in a 40/60 or 80/20 cis/trans ratio. Alpha-cypermethrin is a mixture of only 2 cis isomers. It happens that the efficacy against parasites and the mammalian toxicity of these isomers are significantly different. Typically cis isomers are more effective insecticides but also more toxic to mammals. Obviously a cis/trans 80/20 mixture is more potent than a cis/trans 40/60 mixture. Qualities with a higher cis content are usually also more expensive. And the higher the percentage of the most active isomer, the lower the rate that is required for achieving the same efficacy. If a manufacturer does not disclose the cis/trans ratio of the active ingredient used in its products it may be confusing because he may be selling the "same" product as another manufacturer, but the use recommendations are different.
DISCLAIMER
This article IS NOT A PRODUCT LABEL. It offers complementary information that may be useful to veterinary professionals and users that are not familiar with veterinary antiparasitics.
Information offered in this article has been extracted from publications issued by manufacturers, government agencies (e.g. EMEA, FDA, USDA, etc.) or in the scientific literature. No guarantee is given on its accuracy, integrity, sufficiency, actuality and opportunity, and any liability is denied. Read the site's DISCLAIMER.
In case of doubt contact the manufacturer or a veterinary professional.