1Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati-517502, India.
2Department of Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati-517502, India.
3Veterinary Polytechnic, LRS, Palamaner, Chittor (Dist.).
For therapeutic studies, 30 cryptosporidic calves were randomly divided into 3 groups each containing 10 animals. Ten healthy calves served as controls (Group I), calves in Group II served as infected untreated controls. Calves of Group III were treated with azithromycin while that of Group IV with tylosin. Dehydrated calves in Group III and IV were infused with Ringers lactate. Before therapy (in cryptosporidic calves), the mean haemoglobin (Hb) concentration, packed cell volume (PCV) and total leukocyte count (TLC) were significantly (P=0.01) decreased and relative differential leukocyte count (DLC) revealed mild neutropenia, lymphocytopenia, monocytosis and eosinophilia. Investigation on serum biochemical constituents revealed significant (P=0.01) decrease in serum glucose, total proteins, albumin globulin ratio and serum sodium and potassium levels. Following treatment with azithromycin and tylosin clinical recovery was much faster in azithromycin treated calves than in tylosin treated calves. The calves in Group II failed to regain haemato-biochemicallevels in normalcy even on day 42 of observation.
Azithromycin, Cryptosporidium, Oocysts, Therapy, Tylosin
