Effect of a combined Oxytetracycline HCl / Flunixinmeglumine therapy On undifferentiated respiratory disease in calves

A study was carried out to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Floxon® ; a combination of oxytetracyclineHCl and flunixinmeglumine; compared with treatment with two different doses of oxytetracyclineHCl alone in calves suffering from undifferentiated respiratory disease (BRD). Twenty newly born calves were used in this study. Five of these calves were apparently healthy and kept as a control group. The remaining fifteen calves were suffering from respiratory signs in the form of nasal discharge, cough, fever, congested mucous membrane, lacrimation, bronchial rales and abnormal lung sound. Those diseased calves were divided into three equal groups; each of 5. The first group (A) was treated I/M with oxytetracycline ; 5 mg/kg b.w.daily for 3 consecutive days .The second group (B) was treated with long-acting oxytetracycline ; 20 mg/kg b.w.twice with an interval 48 hours, while the third group(C) was treated with Floxon® ;0.5ml/10kg b.w. daily for 3 consecutive days. Clinical illness index score (CIIS) was recorded on daily basis and Blood & serum samples were collected from calves of each group just before treatment, three and ten days post-treatment for immunological and biochemical studies.The results revealed that, diseased calves before treatment showed significant increase in the TLC, Neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils, serum MDA, haptoglobin and C-reactive protein with significant decrease in the lymphocytes , Phagocytic activity ( % ) ,phagocytic index, serum CAT and SOD levels compared with the healthy calves.Treatment of diseased calves with Floxon®as well as Long acting oxytetracycline were associated with significantly faster improvements in CIIS (cough, nasal discharge, dyspnea, depression and anorexia), especially on the 3rd day of treatment that associated with significant betterment in all the measured immunological, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory parameters compared with the results obtained from calves treated with oxytetracycline 5 mg/kg alone so , the study strongly recommend the use of Floxon® or Long acting oxytetracycline20 mg/kg b.w in dealing with BRD in calves