gastrointestinal tract of horses.
While antibiotics play a vital role in combating infectious ailments, their potential misuse has come under scrutiny, primarily due to concerns surrounding the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Consequently, there's a growing consensus to restrict antibiotic usage to essential cases.
Moreover, there's a growing recognition of the susceptibility of the equine gut microbiota to antibiotic-induced disturbances, which can lead to adverse, and occasionally severe, consequences. Although instances of severe, life-threatening diarrhoea in horses post-antibiotic treatment have been infrequent, they highlight the potential risks.
Now recent work has shown that even short-term courses of commonly prescribed antibiotics can bring about detectable changes in the gut microbiome.
A study conducted by Joseph L Parker from the Gluck Equine Research Center, College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, University of Kentucky, in collaboration with colleagues, aimed to explore the impact of antibiotic administration on the gut microbiome of healthy horses. They evaluated this impact through assessments of faecal consistency, bacterial population counts, and qPCR panel analysis to detect specific disease-associated organisms.
Twenty-four healthy horses, comprising 12 mares and 12 geldings, with no prior exposure to antibiotics or anthelmintic treatment within the preceding three months, were selected for participation in the study. They were grouped into four treatment cohorts, one serving as a control while the others underwent a brief course of distinct antibiotic regimens: potassium penicillin/gentamicin via intravenous injection, ceftiofur via intramuscular injection, and trimethoprim sulphamethoxazole orally.
The research team collected faecal samples before treatment began, on the day after treatment finished, and at 10, 14, 21, and 28 days after the start of treatment.
They found that the response to antibiotic administration varied among the horses. However, all horses administered antibiotics had notably softer faeces compared to the control group. One horse developed severe diarrhoea and was consequently withdrawn from the study.
Bacterial population counts revealed that Lactobacillus spp. levels showed a marked reduction in all samples collected from horses the day after antibiotic treatment finished
Furthermore, horses subjected to antibiotic treatment demonstrated a significantly higher likelihood of testing positive for C. difficile or C. perfringens via faecal qPCR analysis.
The researchers suggest that more work is needed to explore the consequences of antibiotic-microbiota interactions in the horse.
For more details, see:
J.L. Parker, A. Page, O. Jacob, V. Stanton, B. Davis, M. Flythe, E.N. Adam,
Equine fecal microbiota response to short term antibiotic administration,
Journal of Equine Veterinary Science (2024) 133, 104993
4 comments:
Are there any studies that research the effects of anthelmintics on the horse’s microbiome?
Will administering probiotics help either during or after necessary treatment with antibiotics?
Will the administration of probiotics either during or after necessary treatment with antibiotics help at all?
What is the best way to get the horses microbiome back to healthy again?
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