Pharmacological Studies on Ciprofloxacin in Chickens

Ciprofloxacin a novel fluoroquinolone compound, IS arelatively new synthetic antibacterial agent which has beenrecently used in Veterinary field for prevention and treatmentof respiratory diseases of herbivores, swines and poultry.In poultry, ciprofloxacin is used for the control ofmycoplasmosis and colibacillosis affecting poultry industrycausing major economic losses.The in-vitro susceptibility of eight native strains of avianorigin to ciprofloxacin and other commonly used antimicrobialagents was determined.The efficacy of therapeutic doses of ciprofloxacin in chicksexperimentally infected with E.coli, Mycoplasma gallisepticumand mixed infection with both microorganisms compared withflumequine , spiramycin and lincospectin respectively was alsoinvestigated.The present work was conducted to gain more explicitinformation on the possible, if any, side effects of the drug,through studying its effect on some liver and kidney functions,histopathological changes involving, liver, kidney, heart andlung, as well as detection of ciprofloxacin residues in the tissueswere also carried out. The results were summarized as follows: