[The effectiveness of tilmicosin in respiratory diseases of swine]

Within the scope of the clinical evaluation of Tilmicosin in Enzootic Pneumonia of pigs, nasal swabs from 78 animals were taken, before and after oral medication of different doses (0, 100, 200, 300 mg Tilmicosin/kg dry food), and examined bacteriologically for Pasteurella multocida, Bordetella bronchiseptica und Haemophilus parasuis. The bacteria aforementioned were isolated from the nasal secretions of 83% of the pigs, 14 days after crowding without any prophylactic regime. It could be demonstrated, that pigs with clinical symptoms of Enzootic Pneumonia had a 50% higher prevalence-rate of multi-colonization with pneumotropic bacteria than healthy animals. Feeding 300 mg Tilmicosin/kg food for 9 and 14 days respectively, resulted in elimination of Pasteurella spp. and Haemophilus spp. The rate of newly Bordetella bronchiseptica infected pigs was lower than in the placebo-group. Parallel to these bacteriological results improvement of clinical signs and increased daily weight gain were observed.