Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Georgia may have discovered a way to treat deadly foal pneumonia without promoting multi-drug resistant bacteria. In a clinical trial, they found that gallium maltolate (GaM), a semi-metal compound with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, could be a viable alternative to overprescribed antibiotics. The team published their findings in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of disease and death in foals and there is currently no effective vaccine licensed. The bacterium Rhodococcus equi (R. equi), a naturally occurring bacterium in soil, is implicated in the most severe cases in horses. Unfortunately, current methods to screen for R. equi are imprecise and many foals are treated with antibiotics, such as the combination of a macrolide antimicrobial (e.g. azithromycin, the antibiotic in the commonly prescribed Z-pack for human use) with rifampin (MaR), even though they would not have developed pneumonia.
“While that treatment strategy saves lives in the short term, it’s really driving this resistance problem because for every one foal that needs treatment, you treat several foals that don’t need treatment,” said Dr. Noah Cohen, the Patsy Link Chair in Equine Research at Texas A&M University, a primary investigator of the study, along with his colleague Steeve Giguère (deceased). “For the sake of foals, we want to offer veterinarians a better, nontraditional option.”