Cephalosporins in Veterinary Medicine - Ceftiofur Use in Food Animals

Abstract

Cephalosporins are an important class of antibacterial agents in use today for both humans and animals. Four generations of cephalosporins have evolved, all of which contain the beta-lactam sub-structure first found in penicillin. The range of cephalosporins available for use in food-producing animals, which is the subject of this review, is limited compared to humans. A few first- and second-generation cephalosporins are approved worldwide strictly for treatment of mastitis infections in dairy cattle. A third-generation cephalosporin, ceftiofur, and a fourth-generation cephalosporin, cefquinome, have been developed strictly for veterinary use. Cefquinome has been approved in several countries for the treatment of respiratory disease in cattle and swine, foot rot in cattle and for mastitis in dairy cattle. Ceftiofur has worldwide approvals for respiratory disease in swine, ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats) and horses and has also been approved for foot rot and metritis infections in cattle. Ceftiofur has also been approved in various countries for early mortality infections in day-old chicks and turkey poults. This review summarizes cephalosporin use in general terms, and provides an overview of ceftiofur, in terms of its spectrum of activity, indications, metabolism, and degradation in the environment. The safety of ceftiofur is also reviewed, with respect to food-animal residues, rapid metabolism and degradation, and non-persistence of ceftiofur in the environment. The environmental fragility of cephalosporins have not been explored generally, but may be an important characteristic of this antibiotic class with respect to safety of use in animals.

Scientific Opinion on the public health risks of bacterial strains producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases and/or AmpC β-lactamases in food and food-producing animals

“…It has been argued that active concentrations of ceftiofur and cefquinome in the intestines of treated animals are very low, as they are mainly excreted in urine with a limited portion, excreted in faeces (Hornish and Kotarski, 2002); see also MRL summary reports available at www.ema.europa.eu). In the intestines ceftiofur is rapidly metabolised by the intestinal microbiota (Hornish and Kotarski, 2002). Undesirably the available information does not permit estimation of the exposure of the gastrointestinal microbiota to these drugs or active metabolites.…”

Pharmacokinetic – Pharmacodynamic Considerations for Bovine Mastitis Treatment

“…The cephalosporins are semisynthetic antibiotics derived from cephalosporin C (produced by Cephalosporium acremonium). There are currently 4 generations of cephalosporins, which vary from the narrow-spectrum first generation through the expanded-spectrum fourth generation (Hornish and Kotarski, 2002), with all generations being used in veterinary medicinal products. When using a first-generation cephalosporin in an IMM preparation, there is a strong rationale for combining it with an additional antibiotic to extend the spectrum of the product.…”

An antibiotic linked to peptides and proteins is released by electron capture dissociation fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

“…Gas-phase disulfide exchange appears to play a partial role in the loss of two DFCs during ECD of [vasopressin ϩ 2(DFC-H) ϩ 2H] 2ϩ , and in loss of one DFC and a hydrogen atom (loss of 430) from ECD of [insulin ϩ DFC ϩ 4H] 4ϩ . It has been documented that the binding of DFC to plasma and tissue proteins extends the half-life of the antibiotic [40]. In consequence, much of the residual ceftiofur is in the form of protein-bound DFC and thus constitutes an antibiotic residue.…”