MICs and MBCs of chemotherapeutic agents against Renibacterium salmoninarum.

The efficacies of 21 chemotherapeutic agents for controlling bacterial kidney disease were evaluated. The bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic effects of these drugs were tested against 11 Renibacterium salmoninarum strains with different origins. The most effective compounds displaying both bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity for all the isolates were tetracycline and erythromycin, with MICs ranging from less than 0.62 to 10.95 micrograms/ml for tetracycline and from less than 0.62 to 5.47 micrograms/ml for erythromycin. Whereas tetracycline showed identical MICs and MBCs, erythromycin showed bactericidal effects at concentrations of 5.47 to 21.87 micrograms/ml. Similarly, cefazolin and tiamulin proved to be very effective bactericidal compounds against the majority of R. salmoninarum isolates, with MBCs for 90% of the strains tested of 21.87 and 10.95 micrograms/ml, respectively. Neither nitrofuranes, quinolones, nor sulfonamides showed inhibitory effects on the growth of the strains.