apramycin and Diarrhea

Postweaning diarrhea (PWD) is a relevant problem associated with early weaning on pig farms. For decades, in-feed antibiotics and therapeutic zinc oxide (ZnO) have been widely used to prevent PWD in piglets. The European Union is banning both strategies in 2022 due to antimicrobial resistance and environmental contamination concerns, respectively. Understanding the effects of these products on the pig microbiome is crucial for correcting potential microbial disbalances that would prompt PWD. Using shotgun sequencing, three trials were carried out to explore the impact of in-feed apramycin and ZnO, combined with different farm hygiene protocols, on the fecal microbiomes of piglets 7 days postweaning. In trial 1, 28-day-old piglets were allocated to one of three groups: control diet (Ct), Ct + ZnO (Zn), and Ct + apramycin (Ab). In trials 2 and 3, piglets were allocated to the same treatments, but the trials also included different cleaning protocols, achieving different hygiene levels. In-feed treatments impacted the richness, diversity, and relative abundance of the piglets' microbiome more than hygiene. Pigs in the Ct group showed higher species richness than pigs in the Ab and Zn groups. A clustering analysis evidenced a link between

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Diarrhea; Escherichia coli; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Nebramycin; Swine; Zinc Oxide

Topics: Amoxicillin; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Cephalosporins; Colistin; Diarrhea; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Enrofloxacin; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections; Fluoroquinolones; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Nebramycin; Neomycin; Quinolones; Spain; Swine; Swine Diseases

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteriophage Typing; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Diarrhea; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Female; Nebramycin; Salmonella Infections, Animal; Salmonella Phages; Salmonella typhimurium; Spectinomycin; Victoria

Escherichia coli serotype O147:K89:K88a,c was found to be associated with outbreaks of diarrhoea in preweaner pigs of up to 4 weeks of age on a pig unit. Resistance to apramycin, gentamicin, netilmicin, tobramycin and other antibiotics was associated with conjugative plasmids of approximately 62 kb. The presence of a gene which encoded for the aminoglycoside acetyltransferase enzyme AAC(3)IV was confirmed by DNA hybridization. Samples collected during the following 12 months revealed widespread dissemination of these resistance plasmids in non-serotypable, non-haemolytic E. coli throughout the farm. Apramycin-resistant E. coli were also isolated from a stockman and it appeared from plasmid profile analysis and antibiotic sensitivity testing that the human isolates carried the same plasmid as that carried by the porcine E. coli. Klebsiella pneumoniae, with a slightly smaller conjugative plasmid and similar resistance pattern, was isolated from the stockman's wife.

Topics: Agricultural Workers' Diseases; Animals; Cats; Diarrhea; Disease Outbreaks; DNA Probes; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections; Feces; Female; Humans; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Male; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Nebramycin; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; R Factors; Serotyping; Swine; Swine Diseases

Avilamycin, an oligosaccharide antibiotic with growth-promoting properties in pigs, has proved to be effective in controlling stress-induced post-weaning diarrhoea in piglets, caused mainly by Escherichia coli. The present study includes two trials, in which 400 newly-weaned piglets were used (200/trial). The following five different treatments were tested; 0, 40 and 80 p.p.m. avilamycin, 50 p.p.m. olaquindox and 100 p.p.m. apramycin. In each trial there were four pens (each with five females and five males) per treatment. Avilamycin when given at 80 p.p.m. reduced average daily diarrhoea score (ADDS) and mortality, and improved liveweight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR), compared with the untreated controls, the 40 p.p.m. avilamycin and the 50 p.p.m. olaquindox (P less than 0.05) treatments. The overall performance of 40 p.p.m. avilamycin and 50 p.p.m. olaquindox was similar. The results indicate that avilamycin at the dose level of 80 p.p.m. in the starter feed can control post-weaning diarrhoea of piglets and prevent loss of productivity. Nevertheless, the antibiotic apramycin, whose spectrum of activity is mainly against the Gram-negative bacteria, given at the therapeutic level of 100 p.p.m., was more effective than any other experimental treatment (P less than 0.05), except for ADDS and FCR which were not significantly different from that of avilamycin 80 p.p.m.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Diarrhea; Eating; Female; Growth Substances; Male; Nebramycin; Quinoxalines; Random Allocation; Stress, Physiological; Swine; Swine Diseases; Weaning; Weight Gain