Effect of disturbance of the gastrointestinal microflora on the faecal excretion of Fusobacterium necrophorum biovar A.

Oral pretreatment of mice with either a mixture of kanamycin and erythromycin or metronidazole to modify the gut microflora greatly enhanced the faecal excretion of Fusobacterium necrophorum biovar A given by mouth. This lends support to the suggestion that disturbance of the gastrointestinal microflora in animals such as cattle, which often carry the organism in the rumen, may lead to intestinal multiplication and faecal excretion, thereby providing a source of infection that may lead to necrobacillosis of the body surface.