Fatty acid antimicrobial

Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Radical -xh acid – or anhydride – acid halide or salt thereof...

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C514S559000, C514S560000, C424S405000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06699907

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to an antimicrobial composition, and in particular to an antimicrobial composition including a mixture of fatty acids of differing lengths and a lipophilic polar solvent.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The treatment and prevention of mastitis in dairy cows continues to be of primary importance to those engaged in the dairy farming industry. The combined costs of mastitis to the U.S. dairy farming industry have been estimated at between two and three billion dollars annually.
Mastitis is caused by infections of the mammary, or milk-producing, glands by a broad spectrum of pathogenic microorganisms such as
Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Escherichia coli, Mycoplasma bovis
and
Candida albicans
. In particular, when the milk-producing glands and surrounding tissues in the udder become infected, the tissues become inflamed with cellular infiltrates and associated toxic substances.
The cellular infiltrates and associated toxins, along with the infecting organisms themselves, can cause a dramatic reduction in the quality of milk produced by the animal. The infiltrates, toxins, and organisms can also affect the quantity of milk produced by the animal, possibly even resulting in the stoppage of production.
Occasionally, the infection can spread systemically to other organ and tissue sites via the blood or lymphatic systems. The spreading infection can, in extreme cases, seriously debilitate or kill the infected animal.
Given the importance of the mastitis problem to dairy farmers, several methods have been proposed to combat this menace. One method frequently used to combat the problem has been to “cull” out or separate the infected animals from the herd, and then to treat the infected animals with antibiotics. Antibiotics can be administered either directly (via an injection) or indirectly (via feed).
The secondary problem of antibiotic residues in the treated animals and their milk products, however, has come under increased scrutiny from federal and state regulatory agencies, such as the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Additionally, public outcry over the use of antibiotics and the presence of antibiotics residues in meat and milk products has severely limited the market for such products.
As an alternative to treatment with antibiotics after infection, products have been designed to prevent mastitis by killing the pathogenic organisms which might otherwise infect the teat and udder tissues before the organisms enter the tissues. One such proactive product is a topical antiseptic commonly known as a teat (or udder) dip, wash, spray, or wipe. This product is applied to the teat and udder area of the dairy cow or other milk-producing animal before and/or after milking as part of a process of general dairy hygiene. The product is intended to kill or reduce in number the mastitis-causing microorganisms on the surface of the teat before the microorganisms have had a chance to migrate or be propelled (during milking) into the teat canal, or to enter the teat via injuries or lesions.
Although the wide-spread use of topical antiseptics in the last 30 years has greatly decreased the incidence of mastitis, many of the products presently in use as teat dips, washes, sprays or wipes (broad-spectrum chemical germicides such as chlorinated compounds, iodophors or chlorhexidines) are known to irritate the animals' skin. This is particularly significant because the cow is subjected to repeated applications of the product, two or three times a day, before and/or after milking, for a period of years. In some cases, these germicides have actually been found to be toxic to the animals and to the human dairy workers.
Additionally, there is growing concern among the federal and state regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, about the presence of germicide residues, such as iodine or chlorhexidine, in milk products.
Furthermore, chemical germicides such as chlorine, iodine and chlorhexidine compounds lack a high degree of stability. These chemical germicides can be become inactivated over time, or can become inactivated by substances (such as water or organic materials) which may contaminate or dilute the germicide after it has been applied to the teat.
The lack of stability is a particularly significant disadvantage considering that, in some applications, teat dips, washes, sprays, and wipes are intended to remain on the teat and udder for hours at a time so as to provide extended protection from pathogenic microbes between milkings. In fact, for compounds such as chlorine dioxide, the lack of stability over time becomes even more significant in that the time between the preparation of the product by the farmer and the application of the product to the animal may be at least two or three hours. The lack of stability over time also negatively impacts the ability of the dairy farmer to store, for example, compositions made of chlorine dioxide for use at a later date.
One suggested substitute for the chlorinated compounds, iodophors and chlorhexidines presently used as teat dips are the fatty acids and their derivatives. The antimicrobial or germicidal properties of short to medium-chain fatty acids (C
6
to C
14
) and their derivatives (such as esters) have been widely known for some time. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,884 to Fawzi and U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,257 to Kabara; Viegas, et al., Inhibition of Yeast Growth by octanoic and Decanoic Acids Produced during Ethanolic Fermentation, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 1989; J. J. Kabara, Toxicological, Bactericidal and Fungicidal Properties of Fatty Acids and Some Derivatives, Journal of American Oil Chemists' Society, November 1979; J. Fay and R. Farias, Inhibitory Action of a Non-Metabolizable Fatty Acid on the Growth of
Escherichia coli
: Role of Metabolism and Outer Membrane Integrity, Journal of Bacteriology, December 1977; and J. J. Kabara, Antimicrobial Lipids: Natural and Synthetic Fatty Acids and Monoglycerides, Lipids, March 1977. Fatty acids have been included in the class of lipophilic weak acids which are generally considered to be an important class of antimicrobial agents. See Thomas R. Corner, Synergism in the Inhibition of Bacillus subtilin by Combinations of Lipophilic Weak Acids and Fatty Alcohols, Journal of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, pp. 1082-85 (June 1981).
While highly bactericidal, undiluted fatty acids are irritating to the skin, and may even be corrosive. Fortunately, it has been found that dilute concentrations of fatty acids have antimicrobial efficacy. Hence, a significant amount of work has been done to prepare antimicrobial compositions using a fatty acid diluted, for example, with water.
Preparing such a composition diluted with water is complicated because short to medium-chain fatty acids are, at best, only slightly soluble in water. One solution to the relative insolubility of fatty acids has been to add hydrotropes to compositions containing low concentrations (0.1 to 5.0% by weight) of a mixture of fatty acids (C
6
to C
12
) to solubilize the fatty acids. In such a composition, the shorter-chained fatty acids (C
6
to C
9
) may actually assist the action of the hydrotrope by helping to solubilize the longer species, and thereby improving the longer species' antimicrobial efficacy. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,040 to Wang, et al.
To maintain the antimicrobial action of the fatty acids in solution with water, however, the pH of the composition must be sufficiently low (below 4.0) to allow the acids to remain in their active free acid form. A strong organic or inorganic acid must be added to lower the pH so that the fatty acid can remain in its active form.
Alternatively, while teaching a fatty acid composition diluted with water, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,884 to Fawzi et al. teaches away from solubilizing the fatty acids in water. Instead, Fawzi teaches that the antimicrobial efficacy of the fatty acids may be enhanced by supersaturating the aqueous phase of an aque

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