Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Having -c- – wherein x is chalcogen – bonded directly to...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-18
2001-02-13
Prats, Francisco (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Designated organic active ingredient containing
Having -c-, wherein x is chalcogen, bonded directly to...
C514S365000, C514S359000, C424S116000, C424S118000, C426S034000, C426S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06187800
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a method for treating or preventing mastitis in mammals. Said method embraces the intramammary injection or dipping the teat with micrococcin antibiotics, preferably micrococcin P1 or P2, which do not interfere with the production of cheese and yoghurt using milk from treated animals. Hydrophobic antibiotics such as micrococcin P1 or P2 can be administered prior to infection to effectively suppress the rate, severity, and duration of subsequent bacterial infection, or can be administered subsequent to infection to effectively treat mastitis. In particular, the invention describes the use of micrococcin P1 or P2 for the preparation of a drug to prevent bovine mastitis.
Mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the mammalian mammary gland. In veterinary medicine mastitis is most frequently encountered in dairy cows which are highly specialised for milk production. This specialisation, and the convention of milking dairy cows 2 or at most 3 times during 24 hours, renders their mammary glands susceptible to bacterial infections. Though the mammary gland has a number of natural defense mechanisms against bacterial pathogens (Cullor et al., 1990), these mechanisms are frequently overcome by high levels of bacterial exposure.
Milking, for example, is usually done by a mechanical apparatus which passes from cow to cow and thus increases the risk of transmitting an infection from one animal to another. Additionally, physiological changes at certain times in the lactation cycle result in compromise of the natural defense mechanism (Cullor et al., 1990). The periods around drying off and calving are associated with a high incidence of mastitis.
Mastitis can be caused by many different species of bacteria. Those most commonly implicated in bovine mastitis are either host pathogens such as
Staphylococcus aureus
and
Streptococcus agalactiae
or environmental pathogens such as
Streptococcus uberis
and
Escherichia coli
. Host pathogens live on the skin of the udder or in the udder and individual cows are the source of infection to others in the herd. Environmental pathogens on the other hand are found in the immediate environment of the dairy cow and present a constant risk (Cullor et al., 1990).
Mastitis caused by the bacteria characterized above can manifest as either clinical or subclinical disease (Cullor et al., 1990).
Clinical disease varies from mildly affected quarters with changes in the milk through severely infected quarters with eventual loss of that quarter, to systemically ill cows that may die. Milder manifestations are more usual.
Subclinical mastitis is prevalent in many dairy herds. Affected quarters are infected with the pathogenic bacteria described above, but clinical signs are absent. The level of somatic cells increases in the milk. This change can only be detected by specific test procedures known in the art. The syndrome is accompanied by lowered milk production and milk quality. It has been estimated that up to 70% of the economic losses sustained by farmers as a result of mastitis can be attributed to lost production caused by subclinical disease (Philpot, W.N., 1984).
Currently mastitis is controlled through the exercise of scrupulous hygiene at milking, or by detection of subclinically infected cows. These are then milked after the non-infected cows or may even be eliminated from the herd.
Clinical cases of mastitis are generally treated with commercially available antibiotic preparations such as Ampiclox™, Kloxerate plus™, Mastijet™, Tetra delta™, and Synulox™. The use of these preparations requires withholding of the milk from sale, because of the antibiotic residues present. The withholding times vary from 4-8 milkings depending on individual preparations. This is a cause of economic loss to the farmer. To avoid these losses antimicrobial therapy of subclinical mastitis is frequently postponed to the dry period. However, during the period between establishment of infection and drying off the infected cow is a risk to her neighbours. Reduction of bacterial numbers in infected quarters as a result of antibiotic treatment helps to reduce the spread of infection. It also improves the quality of milk, which is rewarded by premium payments in many countries. Thus, the goal of treatment during lactation is to attain a maximum cure consistent with a minimum treatment, and milk discard time, and with a rapid return to normal production of good quality milk.
The use of antibiotics, for the treatment of mastitis during lactation, raises another problem. The production of cheese and yoghurt is based on the bacterial fermentation of milk, and these processes are usually upset by residual antibiotics in the milk. Therefore, the milk of animals during treatment with antibiotics, and the milk from several milkings after the treatment has ended, cannot be used for the production of cheese and yoghurt.
The present invention for the first time describes the antibiotics micrococcin P1 or P2 which when used for the preparation of a drug to treat or prevent mastitis do not interfere with the production of cheese and yoghurt using milk from treated animals such as cows, goats or ewes. Surprisingly, the antibiotics according to the invention are highly hydrophobic and thus poorly soluble in water. In particular, the present invention describes the use of micrococcin P1 or P2 in drugs for the treatment of bovine mastitis. Pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts of these antibiotics may also be used.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention micrococcin P1 or P2 are used to prepare a drug for treating or preventing mastitis. These antibiotics are shown to be highly active against pathogens causing bovine mastitis. What is even more important they can be used to treat or prevent mastitis without interfering with cheese and yoghurt production. This is not the case for conventionally employed antibiotics.
The chemical structure of the micrococcins P1 and P2 is described in Bycroft et al, 1978 and in the CRC Handbook of Antibiotic Compounds, pages 389-417. They are microbial products which can be purified from certain microorganisms such as for example
Staphylococcus sciuri
. For this purpose the microorganisms are harvested by centrifugation, and the micrococcins are extracted from the cell pellet using suitable solvents such as pure methanol, ethanol or chloroform. The extract is then subjected to standard chromatographic purification procedures to isolate pure micrococcin P1 or P2.
Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of treating or preventing mastitis in a mammal, comprising administration to said mammal of a therapeutically effective amount of a micrococcin antibiotic which does not interfere with the production of cheese and yoghurt using milk from treated animals. Such a method avoids withholding milk from mammals that have received therapeutic or prophylactic doses of an antibiotic to treat or prevent mastitis. Thus the milk obtained from treated animals can be used in methods for the production of cheese and yoghurt.
The main aspect of the present invention is the treatment or prevention of mastitis in mammals such as cows, goats or ewes. By “treating” is meant curing or ameliorating the disease in an animal that has contracted mastitis. “Preventing” mastitis means preventing the occurrence of the infection, or tempering the severity of the infection if it is later contracted.
The active agents of the present invention are usually prepared and stored as ready-to-use liquid formulations. The solutions are generally applicable, but the formulation can be adapted to the specific type of administration. Thus the formulation can also contain non-ionic surfactants that carry no discrete charge when dissolved, and are selected from ethoxylated esters of fatty acids and triglycerides. The formulation may also contain EDTA to improve the antimicrobial spectrum and stabilizing agents such as methionines, ascorbic acid, and preservatives such as propylene glycol.
Typically, the active agents of the present i
Georges Catherine
Peel John Edmondson
Suri Bruno
Coe Susan D.
Morris Michael P.
Novartis Animal Health U.S., Inc.
Prats Francisco
Teoli, Jr. William A.
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