Bearded Dragon with cryptosporidium

[Pazzoman]

Hello Everyone, so recently my dragon was diagnosed with this parasite. Apparently its untreatable and can only possibly be beat by the dragon himself. Anyone have a dragon with this any recommendation on meds or treatments?

Currently he is on meds for other parasites but now he has done a 360 and everything looking great. Active, alert eating and so on...hope he pulls through during his next fecal test.

 

[squint]

There's very few treatment options even for humans. I believe there are one or two experimental drugs that you can't obtain. The only readily available drug is azithromycin. It's shown some effectiveness in humans and some other animals. If the crypto gets out of control then I think it's worth a shot but not until then.

Cryptosporidium baileyi infection associated with an outbreak of ocular and respiratory disease in otus owls (Otus scops) in a rehabilitation centre

Birds were treated orally with azithromycin (40 mg/kg) once a day for 15 days, and by the end of the treatment all owls tested negative for the parasites, by IFAT, and did not display further signs of disease.

It's hard to disinfect, too, being immune to many, many disinfectants. I think Lysol works though.

 

[Pazzoman]

Thank you for the info, I'm curious if anyone has tried it with reptiles recently. I just got in touch with my vet, they do carry azithromycin. The secretary said she will talk to the vet and let him know I maybe interested in using it. I will look around if anyone has used it recently, If it not strong maybe might be worth doing it asap to control it before it gets worse? Im unsure

 

[squint]

Well, the chances of eliminating cryptosporidium permanently are slim so I would save the azithromycin in case the cryptosporidium gets out of control one day. Otherwise, it may develop resistance and you might not be able to knock the infection back down when you need it. Definitely consult your vet about it though.

I'm dealing with coccidiosis, another tenacious protozoan, with my bird and it's similar...impossible to eliminate completely.

 

[Viridis]

I don't mean to seem morbid, but...

Crypto isn't self-limiting in reptiles like it is in humans, so it'll likely get worse and worse until he passes. This tends to happen fairly quickly in lizards, compared to say, snakes.

Meds may help reduce symptoms, but it won't kill the crypto. From what I remember, Azithromycin wasn't effective at eradicating crytpo infection; at least not in humans (it's been a while since I've looked into it, so new studies may prove otherwise). Although that owl paper linked earlier seems promising.

This recent thread has more info.

 

[Pazzoman]

Thanks for all the info everyone, I have an appointment this week with the vet, lets cross our fingers for a miracle or maybe it got better. I'll keep you guys updated

 

[jason longboard]

When did you notice something wrong.....how old is it.......what were the signs.....any other thoughts and details you can add would be great for others coming across this thread.

Wishing you the best.