Efficacy and safety of a new 450 mg/ml florfenicol formulation administered intramuscularly in the treatment of bacterial bovine respiratory disease

Abstract

The objective of the study was the safety and efficacy evaluation of a new 450 mg/ml florfenicol formulation in the treatment of naturally occurring respiratory disease when administered intramuscularly, compared with a positive control group treated with the well-established 300 mg/ml formulation. A total of 174 calves, selected from five sites in France and Spain, aged from 1 to 17 months, showing severe signs of respiratory disease, were randomly assigned to treatment with either the 300 mg/ml (3 ml/45 kg; Nuflor; MSD Animal Health) or 450 mg/ml (2 ml/45 kg; Nuflor Minidose; MSD Animal Health) florfenicol formulation, both administered intramuscularly twice, two days apart. Animals were clinically observed daily for 14 days following treatment initiation. The predominant pathogens present in pretreatment respiratory tract samples were Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida. Mycoplasma bovis and Histophilus somni were also present. All isolates were subjected to in vitro sensitivity testing and found susceptible to florfenicol. In both treatment groups, rectal temperature dropped and clinical index (depression and respiratory signs) significantly improved (P<0.05) after treatment. As a result, 97.7 per cent of the 450 mg/ml florfenicol formulation-treated animals were considered treatment successes on day 5. On day 14, 67.82 per cent of the animals were classified as treatment successes and among them 63.22 per cent were cured. The intramuscular injection of the new 450 mg/ml florfenicol formulation was found equally efficacious as the original 300 mg/ml formulation.

Clinical efficacy of florfenicol administered in the drinking water againstOrnithobacterium rhinotrachealein turkeys housed in different environmental conditions: a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic approach

“…However, the mean clinical score in the first 3 days of antibiotic administration was high, in which group C had the highest score, followed by respectively the groups with 20 and 16 h of light. The presence of the clinical signs in the treated groups seems to be rather associated with APV infection alone, as already reported by other investigators (Van de Zande et al, 2001). From day 4 of treatment onward, these clinical scores were strongly reduced.…”

“…The APV strain A/T6/96 (subtype A) was kindly donated by Prof. Nauwynck (Laboratory of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium). The strain was isolated during a respiratory outbreak on a Belgian turkey farm (Van de Zande et al, 1998).…”

“…An effective vaccine is available but not commonly used in the field (Van Empel & Hafez, 1999;Murthy et al, 2007). Antimicrobial therapy can be applied during outbreaks but a careful evaluation has to be made on the antimicrobial agent choice as a high resistance level against a wide range of antimicrobial classes employed in aviculture has been reported (Van Veen et al, 2001;Soriano et al, 2003;Zaini et al, 2008). This choice is hampered by the absence of a commercial screening method for the evaluation of antimicrobial sensitivity.…”

“…This antibiotic acts as an inhibitor of the protein synthesis at the 50S ribosomal subunit by blocking peptidyltransferase, and has a bacteriostatic action (Liu et al, 2003;Papich & Riviere, 2009). Efficacy of FF has been demonstrated against many animal diseases (Marien et al, 2007;Roiha et al, 2011;Thiry et al, 2011;Del Pozo Sacristan et al, 2012) and FF has been approved in Europe for treatment of fish, cattle, pigs and chickens (EMA, 2002). In pig and poultry farming it is current practice to administer antimicrobials via medicated feed or drinking water (Vermeulen et al, 2002).…”

Treatment of naturally occurring bovine respiratory disease in juvenile calves with a single administration of a florfenicol plus flunixin meglumine formulation

“…Thus, the early use of efficacious antimicrobials is important to stop progression of infection and the spread of the disease in the herd. Among the various antimicrobials available, florfenicol (Nuflor, MSD Animal Health) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and its injectable formulation is designed to provide prolonged levels of the antibiotic following either a single subcutaneous injection or two intramuscular injections administered 48 hours apart (Varma and others 1986, Adams and others 1987, de Haas and others 1994, Lobell and others 1994, Varma 1994, Varma and others 1998, de Haas and others 2002, Catry and others 2008, Gonzalez-Martin and others 2011, Thiry and others 2011). …”