Research paper co-authored by Hugo Dunlop published in the Australian Veterinary Journal on the use of kitasamycin for therapeutic use to control and treat swine dysentery.
The study confirmed the occurrence of widespread resistance to macrolides and lincosamides among Australian isolates of B. hyodysenteriae. When kitasamycin was incorporated into the feed at either 62 or 124 ppm and used either prophylactically or therapeutically, it was shown to prevent the occurrence of SD in pigs experimentally infected with an isolate of B. hyodysenteriae that had a low MIC to kitasamycin. Therapeutic application at 62 ppm was the preferred route of application, as it requires less antimicrobial use and was as effective as the other two options investigated. The
increasing difficulties with controlling resistant strains of B. hyodysenteriae in Australia and elsewhere means that registration of kitasamycin for use as a therapeutic agent to control susceptible strains of B. hyodysenteriae should be considered.
