A leading vet who has looked at the problems presented by growing developing resistance to drugs in parasitic worms that affect humans, pets and livestock animals has called for a radical new approach to preserve our ability to fight the pests.

Wanting to highlight the issues around resistance to wormers across both animals and humans, leading holistic vet, Nick Thompson has called for greater awareness of the global issue. He has embarked on a campaign to raise awareness of the problems arising from a dependence on a few chemical treatments, which has created resistance in parasitic worms that mirrors the issues seen in antibiotic resistance.

Nick said, “These parasites cause malnutrition, diarrhoea, dysentery, anaemia and sometimes death in humans and animals alike. They also exacerbate many other medical conditions with the economic impact on the worldwide livestock production substantial.

“It is not surprising that treating pets, livestock and other animals regularly with a wormer has become the norm with worming now considered an essential part of owning a pet or farming livestock. [However], the drugs we rely on to treat worm infestations in both humans and animals are becoming less and less effective.”

He continued, “The emergence of resistance to wormers as a serious problem is no surprise.  In fact for decades the drugs used to treat these parasites have been based on only three types of chemicals, which all act in similar ways. Resistance to one type inevitably leads to resistance to another, with more and more worms developing resistance to all three which is commonly known as multi-drug resistance.”

According to the vet, understanding how current wormers work is key to finding a sustainable solution to resistance. He said, “The major challenge is not the worm’s ability to survive a dose of a drug that would normally be lethal but the fact that this ability to survive can be passed on to its offspring. The flaw in all de-worming drugs is that they have never been 100% effective. There are always survivors and with less worms to compete against, the survivors do what they do best – thrive and reproduce, establishing a new generation of worms with the ability to resist the only drugs available to kill them.

“So the more often drugs are used, the easier it is for the survivor worms to thrive.  It is widely believed that the routine use of wormer drugs in animals – food producing animals in particular – is a major cause of drug resistance.”

Multi-drug resistance is now a major problem, because there is now significant resistance to all de-worming drugs available on the market.

Looking at the options to overcome the issue, Nick suggests making wormers ‘prescription only’, introducing strict quarantine measures for livestock, selective dosing of herds and introducing further herbal worming methods and techniques. He said, “Every farmer, horse or poultry owner needs to rethink their approach to worming now.  Anyone who owns or cares for animals needs to ask themselves whether they are helping to tackle this very serious problem or are, in fact, making it worse.”

Nick has produced explanatory films, which can be viewed below.