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In July 1971, the polyether ionophorous antibiotic monensin was introduced in the United States for the control of coccidiosis in poultry. At that time, prospects for new anticoccidial agents were not good. Amprolium had enjoyed several years of use, but many other compounds had been abandoned as resistance to them developed. After the introduction of monensin, most commercial broilers were medicated with the drug and it is still widely used for this purpose today. Apart from in poultry, monensin is also used to control coccidiosis in game birds, sheep, and cattle. Indeed, more animals have been medicated with ionophores, such as monensin, for control of disease than any other medicinal agents in the history of veterinary medicine. In this review, we discuss the discovery, mode of action, and efficacy of monensin, together with matters of importance to the poultry industry such as commercial use, drug resistance, toxicity, pharmacology and residues, host immunity to coccidiosis, and effects in other avian species.

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SUMMARY: This is the third of a series of papers examining the taxonomic relevance of some statistical treatments of measurements of cnidae from sea anemones (Actiniaria). Some cnida lengths from fresh tissue samples (column ectoderm, tentacles or acontia) from Nematostella vectensis, Haliplanella lineata, Sagartia elegans, Metridium senile, Cereus pedunculatus, Sagartia troglodytes, Anthopleura thallia, Urticina eques and Sagartiogeton laceratus were measured. Five measures of statistical dispersion (sample standard deviation, coefficient of variation, observed sample range, standard range, and 99% probable maximum value of the standard range) were calculated, and their interrelations and potential applications were appraised. It has long been the convention to use the largest and smallest cnida sizes (observed sample range) from tissue samples in attempts to establish differences between actiniarian taxa. However, such data do not reflect the true extremes of a population range. In the present study, the 99% probable maximum value of the standard range for a standard abundance of 1,000 gave the greatest and, therefore, the most cautious estimate of a population range of cnida sizes for a species. This maximum standard range is the only measure of dispersion of cnida sizes that may be used validly to demonstrate that anemone specimens are of different species, and then only if there is no overlap between the extreme cnida sizes being compared. However, partial or complete overlaps of cnida size extremes do not necessarily indicate that specimens are conspecific; other taxonomic characters must also be considered. Coefficients of variation may provide valuable clues as to the homogeneity or heterogeneity of samples of cnida measurements. This paper should be read in conjunction with the first two in this series, which address the taxonomic relevance of differences between mean cnida sizes

Novel hydroxynaphthoquinones are reported with outstanding efficacy against Plasmodium, Eimeria and Theileria species. Biochemical evidence is presented for the selective toxicity of these compounds being due to inhibition of parasite respiratory systems.

A new method for the experimental production of necrotic enteritis in chickens is described. The main features are the use of a diet high in wheat and fish meal content; oral administration of a non-lethal inoculum of the coccidium Eimeria maxima followed 6 days later by the bacterium Clostridium perfringens type A per cloaca, so that the bacterial inoculum is deposited at the time and place when and where the intestinal coccidial lesions are maximal; grading of coccidial and clostridial lesions in individual birds sampled during the 14 days following the coccidial infection. The new method was used to examine the relationship between clostridial and coccidial infections. Frank coccidiosis, caused by virulent E. maxima, exacerbated the lesions of necrotic enteritis and other clinical effects due to a subsequent challenge with virulent C. perfringens type A. Immunization with a live, pentavalent, attenuated anticoccidial vaccine (Paracox-5) protected against a severe challenge with heterologous E. maxima. Furthermore, vaccination with Paracox-5, by virtue of its protection against clinical coccidiosis due to the E. maxima challenge, indirectly protected birds against a subsequent challenge with virulent C. perfringens. The results are reconciled with previous field observations on concomitant coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis in chicken flocks.