Homeopathy as an Alternative to Control of Verminosis Ewes

Background: Verminosis is the main limiting factor in sheep production. Its control has become more and more difficult because of resistance of gastrointestinal helminths to some active ingredients, which has led to search of alternative ways to verminosis control. Based on that, the goal of study was to evaluate the effect of homeopathy for verminosis control in sheep. Materials and Methods: Twenty eight sheep in lactation stage without defined breed were evaluated for seven months. The animals were separated into two groups, control and homeopathy, according to counting of helminths Eggs Per Gram (EPG) of feces. Each animal from homeopathy group was treated with Verm® 100 at rate of 10 g dayG1, mixed at 250 g dayG1 of corn residue. The control group received 10 g of calcium carbonate mixed at 250 g of corn residue. Helminths eggs per gram of feces, Famacha©, body condition score, hematocrit, hemoglobin, counting of eosinophils, total protein, albumin, globulin and aminotransferase aspartate were evaluated every 21 days. The data were analyzed by variance analysis and Tukey’s test at 5% of significance level. Results: After the 4th month of treatment, EPG from homeopathy group was significantly lower than the control group (p<0.05) and it had negative correlation with number of eosinophils. There were normal values for both groups regarding to other parameters evaluated: Hematocrit, hemoglobin, globulin, total protein, albumin, aminotransferase aspartate, body condition score and Famacha©. Conclusion: These results suggest that homeopathy may be used as an alternative method for control of verminosis in sheep. And using it combined with the traditional system could be a way to minimize the use of allopathic medicines, being a resource in organic farms or for those that aim a more sustainable production system.