EFFECT OF ANTIMICROBIAL TREATMENT ON THE COURSE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL YERSINIA-PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS INFECTION IN CANARIES

The efficacy of five antimicrobials administered via the drinking wate r was compared for the treatment of experimental Yersinia pseudotuberc ulosis infection in canaries. Groups of eight to 10 canaries were trea ted with ampicillin (2 g/l), doxycycline (500 mg/l), enrofloxacin (150 mg/l), chloramphenicol (1 g/l) or sulphamerazine-trimethoprim (1 g/l- 200 mg/l) for 10 days, commencing 2 days after experimental infection. No clinical signs were observed in the group treated with enrofloxaci n and there were no deaths and no isolations of Y. pseudotuberculosis from the spleen and liver at necropsy carried out at 35 days post-inoc ulation. In the groups treated with: the other antibiotics morbidity v aried between 50 and 100%, and mortality between 30 and 44%. Mortality and morbidity in an untreated infected control group of 12 canaries w ere 100%. Results indicate that enrofloxacin offers good possibilities for the treatment of pseudotuberculosis in recently infected canaries .