Levacide Injection is a broad spectrum anthelmintic for use in the treatment and control of nematode infections in cattle and sheep. Levacide Injection should be used in cases of parasitic gastroenteritis and lungworm caused by mature and developing immature forms of those organisms sensitive to treatment with levamisole hydrochloride. Lungworms: Dictyocaulus spp Gastrointestinal worms: Trichostrongylus spp, Cooperia spp, Ostertagia spp (except inhibited Ostertagia larvae in cattle),
Haemonchus spp, Nematodirus spp, Bunostomum spp, Oesophagostomum spp and Chabertia spp.


Dosage & Administration
Levacide Injection should be administered by subcutaneous injection at a rate of 7.5mg levamisole hydrochloride per kg bodyweight. Usual aseptic precautions should be observed.

Withdrawal Period 
Animals must not be slaughtered for human consumption during treatment.
Cattle may be slaughtered for human consumption only after 28 days from the last treatment.
Sheep may be slaughtered for human consumption only after 15 days from the last treatment.
This product must not be used in cattle and sheep producing milk for human consumption.

Contraindictions, Warnings etc
Levacide Injection is safe for use in cattle and sheep at the recommended dosages. However, if the recommended dose rates are exceeded, animals may exhibit signs of impaired motor function such as muscle tremors, head shaking and increased salivation, which are of a temporary nature.

Although normally non-irritant, Levacide Injection may occasionally cause local reaction at the site of the injection; this should resolve naturally in a short period of time.

To ensure administration of a correct dose, bodyweight should be determined as accurately as possible; accuracy of the dosing device should be checked.

The product may be administered to pregnant or lactating animals but care should be taken when treating heavily pregnant animals or animals suffering stress from adverse weather conditions, poor nutrition, penning, handling etc.

Animals must not be treated within a period of 14 days before or after treatment with organophosphorus compounds.

Veterinary advice should be sought on appropriate dosing programmes and stock management to achieve adequate parasite control and to reduce the likelihood of anthelmintic resistance developing.

Veterinary advice should be sought if the product does not achieve the desired clinical effect since other diseases, nutritional disturbances or anthelmintic resistance might be involved.

Following the withdrawal of the first dose, use the product within 28 days. In order to minimise the risk of infection, needles should be changed frequently.

In cases of lungworm infections, coughing may persist for a considerable time following successful treatment with Levacide Injection. This is due to tissue damage caused by the parasites. After treatment animals should be moved to clean pasture in order to prevent re-infection.

When the container is opened for the first time, using the inuse shelf-life which is specified on the package box, the date on which any product remaining in the container should be discarded should be worked out. This discard date should be written in the space provided on the label.

Levamisole activity is not affected by benzimidazole resistance.

Care should be taken to avoid the following practices because they increase the risk of development of resistance and could ultimately result in ineffective therapy:

Too frequent and repeated use of anthelmintics from the same class, over an extended period of time.
Underdosing, which may be due to underestimation of body weight, misadministration of the product, or lack of calibration of the dosing device.

Suspected clinical cases of resistance to anthelmintics should be further investigated using appropriate tests (e.g. Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test). Where the results of the test(s) strongly suggest resistance to a particular anthelmintic, an anthelmintic belonging to another pharmacological class and having a different mode of action should be used.

Resistance to levamisole has been reported in Teladorsagia, Cooperia and Trichostrongylus species in sheep in a number of countries, including the EU. There are reports of resistance in Haemonchus in sheep outside the EU. Resistance to levamisole has been reported in Teladorsagia species in cattle in developed countries such as New Zealand.

The use of this product should be based on local (regional, farm) epidemiological information about usceptibility of nematodes and recommendations on how
to limit further selection for resistance to anthelmintics.

Please see below link to the Veterinary Medicines Product Information Database
http://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/productinformationdatabase/Default.aspx