Effect of toltrazuril treatment in nursing piglets naturally infected with Isospora suis

Isospora suis is an important parasitic infection in intensive pig production worldwide, responsible for significant economic losses. In this study the efficacy of toltrazuril treatment against isosporosis was evaluated, under field conditions and throughout the nursing period, in reducing (i) the mean time to onset of diarrhoea and oocyst excretion, (ii) the odds of diarrhoea and, (iii) the odds and level of oocyst excretion, adjusting for the heterogeneity of I. suis infection among litters and across time. In a 300-sow farrow-to-finish commercial operation, twenty-five litters were randomly allocated to receive toltrazuril (thirteen litters) or no treatment (twelve litters). The course of infection was followed in all piglets by coprological examination from day 6 after farrowing until weaning. Parametric shared frailty models, generalised linear mixed models and a two-part random effects model were used in the analyses. Treated piglets had longer mean time to onset of oocyst excretion, lower odds of excreting oocysts and lower mean amount of excreted oocysts on any day during the nursing period. Diarrhoea was less likely to occur in treated piglets. Variance partition coefficients revealed that almost half of the variation in the odds of oocyst excretion and diarrhoea was ascribed to unknown or unmeasured factors that operate at higher than the piglet levels of aggregation. Thus, beyond toltrazuril treatment, control of isosporosis in commercial pig farms can be improved by identification and quantification of these factors.