Study of prevalence and efficacy of antibiotics against foot and mouth disease in cattle at Kurigram district in Bangladesh

A study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and efficacy of commercial antibiotics against the FMD virus in cattle in the char areas of the Kurigram district over a period of six months from October 2014 to March 2015. A total of 472 animals were monitored randomly on the basis of age, sex, breed, and season. More or less similar affected rates were recorded in male (12.68%) and female (12.73%) cattle. There was no statistically significant difference in the affected rate of FMD in indigenous cattle by age and sex. The affected rate in animals of different age groups ranged from 16.67% in cattle up to 12 months of age, 13.33% in 13 to 26 months, 12.83% in 27 to 45 months, and 12.22% in 46 to 60 months age groups in cattle. The affected rate of FMD increased gradually from (7.69) % in October to (9.72) % in November to (16.00) % in December with a peak of (18.88) % in January and then gradually decreased to (15.00) % in February to (7.78) % in March. The affected rate on the basis of breed for indigenous animals was (12.30) % and the cross-breed animals were (13.00) %. Some commercial antibacterial drugs were used to evaluate their efficacy against secondary bacterial infections in the foot-and-mouth disease-affected cattle. Efficacy of commercial antibiotic treatment was observed in four groups of animals. The Amoxicillin for group A, combined Penicillin+Streptomycin for group B, Oxytetracycline for group C, and soda, potassium permanganate, suhaga, and honey for group D. Efficacy results of these antibacterial drugs were compared among the treatment groups on the basis of complete recovery from clinical signs and healing of foot lesions in days required. It was observed that the efficacy of the antibiotic above the mentioned treated group treated with the antibiotic Amoxicillin in group A showed statistically significant results to recover from the foot-and-mouth disease than the other groups B, C, and D.