Effect of Prophylactic Vitamin C Administration On The Efficiency of Florfenicol Or Sulfadiazine-Trimethoprim Antimicrobial Therapy In Chickens With Staphylococcal Arthritis

Septic arthritis (SA) shows improper response to antibacterial therapy. This study evaluates the effect of prophylactic vitamin C administration on the efficiency of sulfadiazine-trimethoprim (SDT) or florfenicol (FF) in broilers with experimental SA. Broilers (210) were randomly allocated into 7 equal groups: I. Negative control (NC) (normal birds). II. Positive control (PC) that rendered arthritic by injection of multi drug resistant S. aureus in tibiotarsal joint at the age of 35 days. III. Vehicle control (injected with sterile medium). IV. Arthritic FF-treated (20 mg/kg/day). V. Arthritic vitamin C+FF-treated (as above+vitamin C at 15g/100L of D.W. from day 25 of age). VI. Arthritic SDT-treated (35 mg/kg/day). VII. Arthritic vitamin C+SDT-treated. Antibacterials started at day 39 of age and lasted for 5 days. Samplings were performed at the age of 44 and 54 days. A long lasting SA with severe fibrinoheterophilic synovitis and reduced body weights developed in PC broilers as compared to NC group (p