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BACKGROUND: Giardia duodenalis (Gd) causes intestinal parasitosis. The involvement of the intestinal microbiome in determining the infections clinical phenotype is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the fecal microbiome features in dogs with giardiasis. ANIMALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study, including fecal samples of kenneled dogs with Gd diagnosed by fecal Giardia antigen dot ELISA. The fecal microbial compositional characteristics and dysbiosis index (DI) were compared between diarrheic and nondiarrheic dogs. RESULTS: Fecal samples of 38 Gd-infected dogs (diarrheic, 21; nondiarrheic, 17) were included. No differences were found in Faiths phylogenic diversity and beta diversity (weighted UniFrac distances) and in specific taxa abundances at the phylum, genus, and species levels, as well as in alpha and beta diversities between diarrheic and nondiarrheic dogs, and also when divided by sex or age. Among diarrheic dogs, alpha diversity was higher in males than in females (pairwise Kruskal-Wallis, q = 0.01). Among males, fecal abundances of the genus Clostridium (W = 19) and Clostridium spiroforme species (W = 33) were higher in diarrheic compared to nondiarrheic dogs. In diarrheic dog fecal samples, Proteobacteria were more prevalent (W = 1), whereas Verrucomicrobia were less prevalent in dogs

Swine respiratory disease (SRD) is amongst the most serious disease problems in modern swine production and often requires antimicrobial therapy. In most cases, antimicrobial administration is given to groups of pigs via feed or water and by using this method there are animals that are not ill but receive treatment. This unnecessary administration increases the chance of resistant bacteria formation. Administration by injection is less common and often requires multiple injections which is time consuming and involves intensive use of labor. There are some new sustained release formulations of cephalosporins (3rd & 4th generation), fluoroquinolones and macrolides that may only require a single injection for a full course of therapy; however, these antimicrobial types are critically important for human use and their veterinary use is being increasingly limited because of resistance concerns. Florfenicol (FFC) is not in human use and is highly effective for treatment of infections in SRD. There are conventional FFC injectable products available on the market; however, those require at least 2 injections that again involve labor and time. Another issue to be mentioned is the stress that these animals go through each time they are repeatedly injected. Therefore, there are great advantages to using a single dose of FFC. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an injectable, bio-degradable, controlled release intramuscular (IM) FFC formulation to achieve single dose therapy of pigs. Single dose injectable administration of antimicrobials provides the advantage of rapid and targeted, individual animal treatment without the need to re-handle each pig for subsequent injections. The concept is based on an injectable FFC, which is incorporated in a reverse thermal gelation system using poloxamer polymers. The suspension is liquid at ambient temperatures and is easily injected, after which it turns into a soft gel at body temperature. The drug is released by diffusion from the gel and/or by erosion of the matrix following dissolution. We have compared the plasma concentrations of FFC in pigs after IM injection of our prototype formulation with that after two separate doses of a commercial product. While commercial FFC plasma concentrations decreased below MIC90 after less than 12 hours, our prototype maintained plasma levels above the desired concentration for more than 4 days. These preliminary results are very promising and we plan to complete additional studies in order to strengthen the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]