Veterinary use of new quinolones in Japan.

Five new quinolones are used as veterinary medicines in Japan. Benofloxacin and ofloxacin are orally given in feed or in drinking water for respiratory diseases due to Mycoplasma spp. and Escherichia coli in poultry. Enrofloxacin is subcutaneously, intramuscularly or orally administered to cattle and swine for pneumonia due to Pasteurella spp., Mycoplasma spp. and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and diarrhoea due to E. coli, and is used orally for respiratory diseases in poultry. Danofloxacin is similar to enrofloxacin except that the former is not approved for diarrhoea in cattle and swine. Orbifloxacin is given intramuscularly for pneumonia and diarrhoea in cattle and swine but not for poultry diseases. They are effective and safe in animals, and disappear from edible tissues after appropriate drug withdrawal times. The quinolones are indicated only when first-choice drugs are ineffective, only under the direction of veterinarians and only for periods of less than 5 days. Under these conditions, it appears unlikely that quinolone use in veterinary practice will be detrimental to human chemotherapy.