Clinical efficacy and tolerance of marbofloxacin ten per cent solution andamoxicillin in the treatment of mastitis, metritis and agalactia (MMA) in sows

In this study, Marbofloxacin 10 % injectable solution, a new fluoroquinolon e antibiotic, was evaluated in the treatment of mastitis, metritis and agal actia syndrome in sows. Its efficacy, after intramuscular administration of two mg.kg(-1) SID for three days, was compared to that of amoxicillin admi nistered intramuscularly at a dose of 7.5 mg.kg(-1) following the same ther apeutic regimen. This controlled and randomised trial was conducted on 93 s ows in twelve different locations in France and the Netherlands. Over an ob servation period of seven days, the clinical response in the marbofloxacin treated group was higher than in the amoxicillin one, especially when consi dering Day four clinical response (41 % success, 59 % improvement and 0 % f ailure rates for marbofloxacin vs, respectively 34 %, 49 % and 17 % for amo xicillin) and mean rectal temperatures where statistical differences were f ound. Also, Day seven success rate, litter weight gain from Day 0 to Day se ven, mortality rate of piglets and local tolerance with 90 per cent unpainf ul injections, more favourable to marbofloxacin treated sows although not s tatistically significant, confirm these positive clinical results. E. coli was the most commonly cultured pathogen (48.1 %) and all isolated where sus ceptible to marbofloxacin (MIC50 and MIC90 = 0.017 and 0.21 mu g.ml(-1) res pectively) vs 32.3 per cent resistance with amoxicillin. Streptococci and S taphylococci were the two other large groups of microorganisms: 36.9 per ce nt and 12 per cent of isolates respectively presenting MIC90 of 1.71 and 0. 27 mu g.ml(-1). These results show the therapeutic efficacy and tolerance o f marbofloxacin as well as its superiority over amoxicillin in the treatmen t of mastitis, metritis and agalactia syndrome in sows.