Sciencedaily.com reports that researchers studying imidocarb dipropionate, used to treat diseases like Texas fever, also referred to as cattle fever or babesiosis in cattle, found it may be effective for horses as well.

B. caballi, a blood parasite transmitted by ticks, is one of the culprits behind the disease babesiosis in horses. Equine babesiosis is also caused by another blood parasite called Babesia (Theileria) equi. Research leader Don Knowles and his colleagues at the ARS Animal Disease Research Unit in Pullman, Wash., found that a relatively high dose of the drug not only eliminated B. caballi, but also left the horses incapable of transmitting babesiosis. The ARS researchers collaborated with scientists at Washington State University in Pullman and with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Babesiosis is considered a foreign disease. Horses that are in the process of being imported and test positive for it are either returned to their country of origin or destroyed.

If approved for use in the United States, imidocarb dipropionate would offer a humane way to clear horses of B. caballi and allow them to enter or remain in the country.