A multicentre, controlled, randomised and blinded study was carried out in three French pig herds to assess the efficacy of doxycycline administered in the feed for the control of pneumonia. About 20 per cent of 363 pigs from the three fattening units were diseased at the start of the study. Pneumonic lesions were found on pigs examined postmortem and Pasteurella multocida was isolated from the lungs of pigs in all the herds. Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infection was confirmed either by detection in pneumonic lungs or by seroconversion in pigs sampled three weeks apart. P multocida, Bordetella bronchiseptica and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae were isolated from 64 per cent, 50 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, of 148 nasal swabs. The following variables were significantly different between the treated and untreated groups (P < or = 0.001): the incidence of diseased pigs during the three weeks from the start of treatment (8.1 per cent in treated group v 35.4 per cent in control group), mean daily weight gain over the same period (934 g/day in the treated group v 834 g/day in the control group) and the cure rate of pigs which were diseased at the start of treatment (73.5 per cent in treated group v 35.3 per cent in control group). These data demonstrate that an average dose of 11 mg doxycycline/kg bodyweight per day in feed for eight days was effective in controlling pneumonia due to P multocida and M hyopneumoniae in these fattening pigs.
In a controlled and randomized field trial carried out in three European countries, 219 fattening pigs, from seven farms with respiratory disease problems, were treated intramuscularly for three or five days either with marbofloxacin 2 mg/kg/day, or with amoxicillin 7 mg/kg/day. Pigs were monitored daily until D5 (Day 5) and again at D21, and were weighed at D0 and D21. Pasteurella multocida, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae were mainly identified in the pig lungs. The difference in the cure rate (74.5% in marbofloxacin group versus 68% in the amoxicillin group) was not significant. Mean rectal temperature was significantly lower after treatment with marbofloxacin. Other criteria tended to be favourable for the marbofloxacin group, although differences were not significant. The time to cure tended to be shorter for the marbofloxacin group (24.3% of pigs at 24 hours post-treatment versus 12.1% in the amoxicillin group). Marbofloxacin and amoxicillin relapse rates were 11.9% and 17.2% respectively (not significant) and daily weight gain was 746 g in the marbofloxacin group versus 687 g in the amoxicillin group (not significant). The 2% marbofloxacin solution was significantly better tolerated than amoxicillin.
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