Baytril and Egg Consumption

[bawkbawkbawk]

One of my hens was treated with Baytril for supposed metritis in August. The vet said not to eat the eggs for a few weeks but I am reading elsewhere that once a hen is treated with Baytril the eggs from that bird can NEVER be consumed again. Is this true? I see mixed information when I research the subject, so I can't tell whether the right answer is never or a few weeks.

What does Baytril do to the hen's eggs that disqualifies them long-term?

Is the prohibition agreed upon by many sources or is it considered to be an overreaction by some and, if so, why?

Are factory hens whose eggs are sold in stores treated with Baytril?

 

[gritsar]

*bump*

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Baytril is a member of fluoroquinolone drugs used to treat human infections including food poisoning. Having it in our food chain increases the risk of developing more antibiotic resistant bugs.

At least I think this is the argument some doctors put forth to the FDA.

If/when someone eats eggs from a chicken under antibiotic treatment the potentially get a micro dose of antibiotic, if they happen to be fighting a bug at the time it is possible that the bug develops an immunity through exposure. It would almost be like the bug was vaccinated against the antibiotic. Then if the bug multiplys the person may be at risk of a prescribed antibiotic failing to work or the other risk is that they may pass the antibiotic resistant bug to someone else.

I'm betting that there simply has not been enough study into determining how that particular drug moves through the chicken to the egg, how quickly or what levels would be safe.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

This is pretty much what I thought. But once the antibiotic has passed through the bird's system, let's say giving a full month to err on the side of caution, what is it about Baytril that gives rise to an egg-eating prohibition beyond that period of time?

Would really like to understand whether this is an uber-caution thing or not. I agree that the antibiotic resistance issue is not to be sneezed at (

) but I'm trying to find out whether just how significant Baytril is in the scheme of things. If the storebought eggs we eat have the same risk then I'm less inclined to toss my hen's eggs. If there's something specific to Baytril then it would be good to know more about it.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Trouble is some chemical compounds don't just get passed through and metabolized. It is possible that the compunds could get stored into fat or bone and are then released slowly. Seems unlikely to me though and if that were the case the compound would be released in very very small amounts so effect should be virtually nil.

Maybe it's kind of a half life decay, if there is half as much residual in one day then there would be half of half the next and so on. Though I have no idea what the half life period would be and just how much would be safe to consume.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Found it!

http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/1382/62

If the Baytril causes the chickens to develop a antibiotic resistant strain of Campylobacter it could be passed to humans at a much later date. This could happen if the chickens were carrying Campylobacter and the Baytril did not wipe it out.

So I guess there is a real long term risk that extends beyond the lifespan of the drug it's self.

Most of us lived through the period which Baytil was licenced for and very likely used on comercial layers without contracting antibiotic resistant Campylobacter but it does reason there could be a risk.

 

[hen-at-home]

Would we assume this applies to all antibiotics used to treat layers? I finished treating my flock ten days ago with Duramycin 10, for what I thought was the beginning of some type of respiratory infection. Now I don't know how long to wait, or if I will ever be able to eat the eggs again. I am trying to research this on the internet, but if anyone has information I know there are others on this forum who are asking the same questions.

Thanks,
Sharon

 

[speckledhen]

No antibiotics are approved for chickens. Folks use them off-label all the time, but none are approved. Baytril is actually illegal to use on chickens, I've read. Most docs won't prescribe it for egg laying birds.

 

[hen-at-home]

Thank you. That is what I've concluded basically but glad to have it confirmed and based on my research and what others have said I understand why.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

I think it comes back to the same issue of the chance of developing antibiotic resistant bugs that can be passed through the egg. And this is why meat birds only require a short period before slaughter as the meat will be cooked sufficiently to kill any bactiria. But eggs don't always get cooked sufficiently to kill bacteria, the last comercial egg outbreak of salmonela pretty much demonstrated that.