Combination therapy herd pack offer from Intervet

Intervet has announced the launch of a Cephaguard 'dairy herd pack', containing sufficient Cephaguard injection (5 bottles) to treat up to 10 cows.

Using Cephaguard injection alongside the company's lactating cow formulation, Cephaguard LC, has been shown to deliver very high concentrations of active ingredient (cefquinome) to the base of the udder2. A further benefit to farmers is that the milk withdrawal period when using two Cephaguard injections (24 hours apart) in combination with Cephaguard LC is no longer than when using Cephaguard LC alone.

E. coli and Strep. uberis account for over 40% of clinical mastitis cases in the UK, and infections can be mixed. For cases of toxic mastitis, where the high-yielding Holstein is particularly at risk, treating the infection swiftly is critical. The speed at which high concentrations of cefquinome can be delivered to all areas of the udder is especially relevant.

A study carried out in 2002 demonstrated that the intramuscular administration of Cephaguard, when treating endotoxic E. coli mastitis, resulted in a rapid rise in the level of cefquinome in the milk. This demonstrates its ability to effectively cross the blood-udder barrier1.

A second study examined the combined use of the products and found that the combined intramammary and systemic routes very quickly delivered very high cefquinome concentrations to all regions of the udder. This was found to be particularly effective at providing clinical and bacteriological cures for cases of E. coli mastitis2.

"Cephaguard remains the fastest growing antibiotic treatment for mastitis, and data also shows that the combination approach is becoming increasingly popular. These two trials demonstrate that product efficacy is well-proven, and we anticipate that the new herd pack will encourage more people to start using Cephaguard," says Louise Radford, livestock marketing manager at Intervet.