Treatment of Moraxella bovis infections in calves using a long-acting oxytetracycline formulation

Studies were undertaken to determine the effectiveness of an oxytetracycline HCl formulation for the prophylaxis and treatment of chronic Moraxella bovis ocular infections in calves. Two separate experiments were performed. For the first, calves were separated into two groups and the eyes were infected with M. bovis. The eyes of these calves were observed and cultured for 37 consecutive days. On the 37th and 40th day, each of the five calves were treated intramuscularly with the drug (20 mg/kg of body weight). The other five calves (second group) remained untreated as controls. The cultures from the five treated calves were negative after the first antibiotic administration and remained so for 14 days. M. bovis was isolated from each eye of the control calves at least once during that time. None of the antibiotic-treated calves was completely resistant when reinfected with M. bovis. For the second experiment, calves were given a prophylactic administration of the formulation and were then infected with M. bovis 48 (n = 4 calves) or 72 (n = 4 calves) h later. These treatments resulted in a lower incidence of keratoconjunctivitis and a decreased duration of bacterial shedding, as compared to controls (n = 8 calves), but did not completely prevent the occurrence of disease or the establishment of ocular infections.