APPLICATION OF VARIOUS CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL BOVINE ANAPLASMOSIS S.K. Sharma, D.P. Banerjee, O.P. Gautam To cite this version: S.K. Sharma, D.P. Banerjee, O.P. Gautam. APPLICATION OF VARIOUS CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL BOVINE ANAPLASMOSIS. Annales de Recherches Vétérinaires, INRA Editions, 1977, 8 (3), pp.307-313. hal-00900943 HAL Id: hal-00900943 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00900943 Submitted on 1 Jan 1977 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. APPLICATION OF VARIOUS CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS IN EXPERIMENTAL BOVINE ANAPLASMOSIS S.K. SHARMA, D.P. BANERJEE O.P. GAUTAM Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Sciences, Haryana Agricultural University, Hlssar-125004, Haryana, India ’ Résumé UTILISATION DE DIVERS AGENTS CHIMIOTHERAPEUTIQUES AU COURS DE L’ANAPLAS- MOSE BOVINE EXPERIMENTALE. ― Un essai de traitement a été réalisé avec différents agents ehimiothérapeutiques, sur des cas cliniques ou des porteurs inapparents d’ana- plasmose bovine expérimentale. La Dithiosemicarbazone (associée à l’Oxytétracycline), le Chloramphénicol et la Rolitétracycline ont très efficacement entraîné la guérison clinique et l’élimination des agents pathogènes. L’imidocarb a entraîné la guérison clinique sans supprimer complètement les microorganismes. La Gentamycine resta inefficace. Introduction cyclines inhibit growth of Anaplasma, stu- dies were directed to evaluate these drugs in relation to the elimination of infection Drugs such as oxytetracycline, chlorte- (Brock, Pearson and Kliewer, 1953, 1958; tracycline and tetracycline hydrochloride Foote and Wulf, 1952; Pearson, Brock and have proved useful in treating clinical cases Kliewer, 1957 ; and Splitter and Miller, 1953 of anaplasmosis but these often failed to and Magonigle et al., 1975). These studies eliminate the carrier status. Unless the revealed that tetracyclines would « sterilizes carrier status is eliminated, the source of infections only after the prolonged adminis- infection remains and these animals consti- tration of large quantities. Such prolonged tute a potential danger to other susceptible periods of treatment are impossible in many stock. In recent years, attention has been systems of management and this has ini- focused on the treatment of carrier cases. tiated the search for more efficient drugs , The elimination of the carrier infection is (Kuttler, 1973). particularly important in those herds in which The present paper describes investigations eradication measures are feasible (Wheeler, concerning the effectiveness of several che- 1968). motherapeutic agents against clinical and As soon as it was recognized that tetra- carrier cases of bovine anaplasmosis. Materials and methods Dithiosemicarbazone and Oxysteclin were administered 5 mg/kg each intravenously for 4 doses on alternate days to six animals The chemotherapeutic trial was conducted (three carriers and three clinical cases). on cattle, 6-12 months old, of both sexes, Chlorplon was given 8 mg/kg intramuscularly that were experimentally infected with Ana- once daily subsequently for 5 days to four plasma marginale. Bos indicus and B. indi- animals (two carriers and two clinical cases) cus cross-breds were included in the trial. and for 3 days to three clinical cases. The cross-breds came down with the clinical Reverin was administered intramuscularly form of the disease, whereas, the indigenous 150 mg per animal for 5 consecutive days stock remained as carriers. The following to five animals (three carriers and two clini- drugs were used : cal cases). Garamycin was administered i) Dithiosemicarbazone (356 C61 - Bur- 80 mg per animal intramuscularly daily for roughs Wellcome and Co.) combined with 3 days to three clinical cases. lmizol was Oxytetracycline (Oxysteclin - Squibb). used for investigating its chemotherapeutic ii) Chloramphenicol (Chlorplon - Khandel- and chemoprophylactic properties. For che- wal Laboratories Pvt.Ltd.). motherapy, two doses were given at an inter- iii) Rolitetracycline (Reverin - Hoechst). val of 7 days 5 mg/kg to five cross-bred iv) Gentamicin sulphate (Garamycin - C.E. clinical cases. For chemoprophylaxis, the Fulford, India, Pvt.Ltd.). drug was given intramuscularly 8 mg/kg each v) lmidocarb dipropionate (Imizol - Bur- to four cross-bred animals out of which two roughs Wellcome and Co.). animals were challenged 100 days and the rest two 50 days after the drug administra- of parasitaemia on subinoculation and sple- ’ tion. nectomy. Similar results were obtained in When the treated animals showed no orga- the animals treated with Chloramphenicol nisms on peripheral blood examination they and Rolitetracycline. The drugs were, there- were splenectomized for the recrudescence fore, effective in the clinical as well as of parasitaemia, if any. The blood of such carrier phases of the disease. However, animals that were still free from the infec- Chloramphenicol with 3 doses proved less tion after splenectomy, was subinoculated effective as the treated animals could not to intact healthy animals which were later completely get rid of infection. Gentamicin splenectomized. sulphate was found ineffective. It neither eliminated the organism nor caused a clinical recovery. lmidocarb dipropionate brought a clinical recovery but did not completely Results eliminate the organisms and a rare parasi- ’ taemia (below 1 per cent) persisted in the treated animals. Neither it had any chemo- Dithiosemicarbazone with Oxytetracycline prophylactic activity as all the animals of proved to be very efficacious and the treated the group showed 3-13 per cent parasitaemia animals became completely free of infection on challenge. as judged by the clinical recovery and nega- The effects of the drugs on the course tive blood smear and failure of the treated of the disease and haematological features animal’s blood to elicit the recrudescence are demonstrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and compared with that of untreated control 1970 ; Kuttler and Zaraza, 1970 ; Roby, Ame- animal (Fig. 5). rault and Spindler, 1968). Roby (1968) was No side effect was observed with any of of the opinion that dithiosemicarbazone eli- the drug used. minates the carrier state in cattle, presuma- bly in a similar manner that the tetracyclines do. The combined therapy of dithiosemi- carbazone and tetracycline has been claimed Discussion by earlier workers to yield superior results than the therapy with either drug (Brown, Wilde and Berger, 1968; Roby, Am4rault and Our results on dithiosemicarbazone are Spindler, 1968 ; Kuttler, 1971 a, b ; Kuttler comparable with that of Brown, Wilde and and Zaraza, 1970; Bedell, 1971). It seems Berger (1968) and Roby, Amerault and Spin- that the joint action of the drugs affords dler (1968). In our hands, dithiosemicarba- both rickettsiastatic and rickettsiacidal zone completely eliminated the carrier sta- actions on A. marginale by exerting a syner- tus and did not show any side effects as gistic or at least an additive effect. observed by Adams and Kuttler (1970). There is no earlier report on the use of Dithiosemicarbazone has recently been des- Chloramphenicol, Rolitetracycline and Gen- cribed as having a specific chemotherapeu- tamicin sulphate against bovine anaplasmo- tic effect on Anaplasma (Barrett et al., 1965 ; sis. Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum Kuttler, 1971 a, b. 1972 ; Kuttler and Adams, antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces vene- zuelae. Its antimicrobial spectrum is marked 1973 ; Roby and Mazzola, 1972; McHardy against a wide range of infectious diseases and Simpson, 1974, 1975). On contrary to caused by gram-negative and gram-positive our findings, Roby (1973) mentioned elimi- bacteria, rickettsiae and certain of the large nation of anaplasmosis carrier status by viruses. Intramuscular administration of lmidocarb at 5 mg/kg two times at 7, 14 Chloramphenicol gives a rapid response and 21 days interval. and this drug produces no pain at the site Ours is probably the first attempt to study of injection and has no side effects. Addi- the efficacy of Chloramphenicol and Roli- tionally, the drug has a greater stability - tetracycline in bovine anaplasmosis. A has a life of four years at room tempera- comparatively low cost of these drugs cou- ture. In cases of anaplasmosis which are pled with their dose requirements and high refractory to other broad spectrum anti- margin of safety make them suitable for biotics Chloramphenicol might be useful. anaplasmosis therapy both for clinical reco- Rolitetracycline, unlike other parenteral very and elimination of the carrier status. totracyclines, is stable at a pH which is well tolerated by the tissues and hence there (Accepted for publication, June 1977.) is no irritation or induration around the site of injection. It is very soluble and quickly absorbed. In comparison to other tetra- cyclines, the effect of Rolitetracycline is Acknowledgements prompt besides being useful in eliminating the carrier status of infection with the We are thankful to M/s Burroughs Well- recommended doses. come