Use of bacitracin in the prevention and treatment of experimentally-induced idiopathic colitis in horses.

Ten healthy ponies from a single herd were found by repeated fecal culture to be free of Salmonella species and Clostridium cadaveris. In a preliminary study, four ponies administered a single oral dose of 10 mg/kg lincomycin did not develop idiopathic colitis when the drug was administered alone. Four other ponies were administered 10 mg/kg lincomycin by stomach tube together with 0.45 L of colonic content from a horse with idiopathic colitis induced earlier by lincomycin alone. Two of the four ponies were treated with 25 g oral zinc bacitracin premix (110 g/kg active ingredient) 24 h later. Forty-two hours after inoculation the two untreated ponies had severe signs of idiopathic colitis and were euthanized. Postmortem findings were typical of idiopathic colitis. The two treated ponies had milder illness but the more severely affected was also euthanized; the other was retreated at 42 h with bacitracin pre-mix and again 12 h later. Its illness and diarrhea resolved over the next 24 h. Clostridium cadaveris was isolated in large numbers from the cecum of the euthanized ponies and their cecal content contained mouse lethal and guinea pig dermonecrotic, but not cytotoxic, activity. Enterotoxins of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile could not be demonstrated. No toxin could be demonstrated in culture supernatants of C. cadaveris or in supernatants of cecal contents treated with ethanol prior to culturing in anaerobically incubated broth. No Salmonella spp. were isolated. A further two ponies were administered 10 mg/kg lincomycin orally with 0.45 L colonic content from a horse with idiopathic colitis, as described.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)