Spiramycin drying off therapy of cows suffering from Staphylococcus aureusmastitis. Preliminary studies. Short second communication

The efficacy of systemic (intramuscular - IM) vs. local (intracisternal - I C) ways of spiramycin drying off therapy were compared on 65 Staphylococcus aureus infected quarters of 38 dairy cows. The single dose (30 000 IU/kg) IM treatment (single IM group) resulted similar low bacteriological cure ra te (14%) as seen among untreated controls (18%). The al treatment (30 000 I U/kg) on 4 consecutive days (4 IM group) resulted in significantly higher q uarter based cure rates than that one in the single IM group. The bacteriol ogical cure rates in the intracisternal and 4 IM groups were quite similar but remained below 50%. Based on these findings as well as on the high cost of the repeated intramuscular treatment regime there is no reason to give extra preference to the systemic application of spiramycin at drying off in the practice.