In recent decades, secondary infection bacteria quickly increased their pathogenicity in both human and veterinary patients, due to their continuously increasing antibiotic-resistance. When such bacteria intervene in infections as orf in sheep, they can determine an important impact either in the sanitary or in the economic aspect of the brreding sector. Considering the relatively high spread and economic impact of orf in Romanian sheep, this research aimed to estimate the complexity of the secondary infections in diseased sheep in connection with the severity of the lesions displayed. The research was conducted in five herds, on 3 to 96 month old sheep, with orf lesions, scored from mild to severe. The bacteria were isolated from the lesions and identified by cultivation on broth and agar plates plus identification by use of API galleries. The severity of the lesions did not seem to be influenced by the number of bacterial species isolated, but by the herd environment and individual pathogenicity of the isolates.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious public health problem. The most effective way to control this phenomenon is to make rational use of antibiotics. However, antibiotic resistance is a complex process in which clinical, pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic and microbiological factors all play a part. Since antibiotic therapy is usually performed empirically, clinicians should follow guidelines that take all these factors into account together with the concepts of evidence based medicine. These guidelines may be elaborated using information technology tools that help to collect, analyze and weigh up all the information available on a certain pathogen. Therefore, the administration of antibiotics should be controlled with the help of multi-disciplinary working groups and in accordance with objective data collected following a thorough analysis of all the available information.

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Phytotherapy used various preparations in both human and veterinary medicine over time, due to their increased bioavailability and lower costs.  Taraxacum officinale of Compositae family, well-known for its therapeutic effects, abundantly grows on Romanian pastures. The research aimed to investigate its alcoholic extract’s effects on cell-mediated immunity in anti-anthrax vaccinated, grazing sheep. Local Turcana ewes kept on pasture from spring to fall were sc vaccinated with R1190 attenuated anthrax strain, and blood was sampled before and 14 days after the vaccination. In vitro cell-mediated immunity was monitored employing phagocytosis and blast transformation tests in the presence of T. officinale alcoholic extract. The extract increased phagocytosis two weeks after the vaccination (p<0.001), while the blastogenic response also showed significant variations (p<0.05) over time.  There was a positive effect of T. officinale extract on the cellular immunity, suggesting its stress alleviating effects in anti-anthrax vaccinated sheep.

Antibiotic resistance in veterinary medicine poses lately increasing risks in therapeutic success and threatens the life of patients with various bacterial infections. Environmental bacteria are very likely to develop on the initial lesions induced by orf virus in sheep, worsening the development and prognosis of the disease. The research aimed at verifying the hypothesis that the persistence of the bacteria and thus, increased severity of the orf lesions is residing in the high antibiotic resistance of the co-infecting bacteria. The antibiotics used were gentamicine, cefuroxime, amoxicilline clavulanic acid, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, penicillin and thrimetoprim. Multi antibiotic resistance indices were calculated for each strain. Based on the MAR index, at least two of the investigated environmental bacteria strains could further complicate orf lesions and delay the positive effects of the antibiotic therapy.