Study of the therapeutic efficacy of DOKSI AVZ 500 in bacterial respiratory diseases in young pigs.

Background: Young farm animals are susceptible to opportunistic infections which may cause economic losses due to mortality and poor weight gain. The development of antimicrobial resistance and the desire to improve therapy efficacy and safety are the reasons to seek for new antibacterial drugs ensuring rapid recovery with minimum adverse events. Aim: To estimate the efficacy of DOKSI AVZ 500 in respiratory pathologies in young pigs. Methods: The study was conducted in 65-70-day-old Yorkshire piglets with signs of bacterial respiratory pathologies. The animals were treated with the test drug for 3 or 5 days. The reference group received TETRAMAX 500 which is similar to the test drug in terms of chemical structure, mechanism of action, and activity spectrum. The animal's status was assessed using clinical examination, clinical blood count, and bacteriological tests. Results: Both test and reference drugs were well tolerated and ensured the animal recovery within about 4 days. The recovery was accompanied by normalization of hematological parameters and flora composition. The bacterium associated with the disease development, Streptococcus suis, was virtually completely eliminated in all groups. No adverse events were noted. After the treatment, all the animals readily gained weight and live market quality. Conclusion: DOKSI AVZ 500 was a highly efficient therapy for respiratory pathologies caused by the resident opportunistic flora in piglets. It has also shown noninferiority vs. TETRAMAX 500 in terms of all the health-related parameters and thus can be recommended for introduction in veterinary practice in pig farms.

Comparative pharmacokinetics of florfenicol in heifers after intramuscular and subcutaneous administration.

Florfenicol was administered to five heifers intramuscularly at a dose rate of 20 mg/kg bwt and following wash-out period, subcutaneously at a dose rate of 40 mg/kg bwt. Blood plasma samples were collected from heifers before injection of florfenicol and up to 120 h after intramuscular (IM) injection and up to 264 h after subcutaneous (SC) injection. Florfenicol concentrations in plasma were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass-spectrometric detection. Pharmacokinetics of florfenicol was estimated using non-compartment analysis. Mean maximum plasma concentration, area under the concentration-time curve and elimination half-life for florfenicol were 3.2 µg/ml, 101.5 µg × h/ml and 24.5 h, respectively, after IM injection at 20 mg/kg bwt, and 2.7 µg/ml, 194.5 µg × h/ml and 103.8 h, respectively, after SC injection at 40 mg/kg bwt. The obtained results indicated that both administration routes provided comparable bioavailability, whereas SC route was attributed with lower peak levels and markedly slower absorption of florfenicol from injection site. Both administration routes provided plasma florfenicol levels which are expected to be effective against prevalent infectious agents of cattle.