Effect of marbofloxacin on Haemophilus parasuis nasal carriage.

Haemophilus parasuis is a colonizer of the upper respiratory tract and the causative agent of Glässer's disease in swine. This study focused on the nasal carriage of H. parasuis after treatment with marbofloxacin. Three marbofloxacin treatments (three doses of 2mg/kg body weight [bw] every 24h, two doses of 4 mg/kg bw every 48 h and 8 mg/kg bw in one single shot) were used and all of them reduce significantly (p<0.05) the nasal carriage of H. parasuis as compared to control animals. Moreover, H. parasuis was not detected in the nasal cavities of piglets after administering the highest dose. The effect of a dose of 8 mg marbofloxacin/kg bw in one shot was further studied in a farm with clinical cases of Glässer's disease using a longitudinal study. Statistically significant reduction of nasal carriage of H. parasuis was detected during the first week after treatment in comparison with the control group. However, a clear relationship between the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the different strains, their putative virulence or the treatment group (antibiotic or control) from which they were isolated was not detected. Finally, the effect induced by the antibiotic treatment on the bacterial strains seemed to be transitory, since diverse H. parasuis strains (with high and low marbofloxacin MICs) were observed 7 days after finishing the treatment.