Micotil - Megan Verbeek

Livestock animals are prone to many infections and diseases due to the conditions of feedlots. Therefore, it is extremely important to have cheap and effective antibiotics that can be used to treat and prevent these diseases. Micotil is a very common broad range antibiotic that kills over 15 types of bacteria responsible for respiratory disease in cows and sheep. The antibioticchemical of Micotil, is called Tilmicosin (1). Micotil can be either used to treat one specific cow or lamb with the reparatory disease or veterinarians are able to prevent the spread of the disease by injecting the drug into all the animals that are near that one sick animal, these processes are called pull-and-treat or metaphylaxis (2).

            Even though Micotil is very beneficial for many cows and sheep there is the risk of death if injected into humans (3). There are

many mild and severe side effects if the drug if not handled with extreme caution. Some mild symptoms are vomiting, headache, dizziness, sense of tingling, weakness, inability to talk, and pain and inflammation at the injection site; while the severe effects could be fatality, cardiac arrest, chest pain, dysrhythmias, and discoloring of the skin (4). Inhalation, skin exposure, and mainly injection (5) can cause any of these side effects, and so it is very important that the veterinarian who is administering the drug are aware of their surroundings, knowledgeable of the potential health risks, and use proper handling techniques. It is very easy to prick yourself or other people around you with needles carrying animal medication.

For instance, a man was pricked with a needle containing Micotil because he put the needle it in his shirt pocket, then bent over to pick something up and the needle nicked his skin, his chest then turned black and he had to go to the hospital for treatment. This is an example of poor handling techniques and could have easily been avoided; however, when dealing with animals there is

always a risk of human exposure. Darn animals just don’t know when to sit still! Micotil is very useful and effective to treating respiratory diseases, but when using the drug precautions and awareness of the potential risks must be made.            

References

   1. Micotil (Tilmicosin Injection). (2013). Elanco Animal Health, a Division of Eli Lilly Company. Retrieved from http://www.elanco.us/products-services/beef/cattle-brd.aspx

   2.Variability in Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Morbidity and Mortality Associated with Arrival Truckload, Elanco Study Number: T5CB39905. (2011). Micotil (tilmicosin injection) Research Brief 3. Elanco Animal Health. Retrieved from http://www.elanco.us/pdfs/micotil-research-brief-3_mic19240-ai11106.pdf

   3. Micotil. (2013). Drugs.com. Retrieved from http://www.drugs.com/vet/micotil-can.html   

    4. Tilmicosin. (n.d.). In National Library of Medicine, Hazardous Substances Data Bank. Retrieved from http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~f3gRPm:1

   5. Tilmicosin. (n.d.). PubChem Compound. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

     6. Tigertweet. (2008). Pet lambs [Picture]. Flickr.com. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchinabox/473277498/in/photolist-4SVchN-HPEUS                 

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   7. John Amis (Photographer).  (2006). Animal Diary Science [Picture], UGA College of Ag. Flickr.com. Retrieved April 10, 2014 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugacommunications/           

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