A new study suggests that a concentrated sugar solution may prove to be as effective as antibiotics for treating a common infection in dairy cows.
According to a recent study led by researchers at Penn State, a concentrated sugar solution could be just as effective as antibiotics for treating a common infection in dairy cows. These findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Adrian Barragan, an associate research professor and extension veterinarian at Penn State, stated that this discovery could help lessen the dependency on antibiotics, thereby addressing the rising issue of antimicrobial resistance affecting both humans and animals.
This research is particularly important for the organic dairy sector, where antibiotic usage is limited. Barragan noted that it may also lead to further investigations into sugar-based treatments for uterine infections in humans, like endometritis.
“The disease is an infection of the uterus that typically occurs after calving and is among the most prevalent diseases impacting dairy cattle in the U.S.,” explained Erika Ganda, an assistant professor specializing in food animal microbiomes at Penn State and co-lead author of the study. “We only use antibiotics when absolutely essential to maintain the welfare of the cows, adhering to specific withdrawal times to prevent any residues from entering the milk supply. By minimizing antibiotic use, we lower the chance of developing resistant bacteria that can affect farm workers, their families, and local communities. Antimicrobial resistance poses a growing public health challenge, which is why finding an antibiotic-free alternative treatment was a central aim of this research.”
The study evaluated two treatments for a common uterine infection known as clinical metritis, which can result in severe health complications for dairy cows. This condition is usually treated with systemic antibiotics, like ceftiofur, that are effective but may also contribute to the increasing antimicrobial resistance in food-producing livestock.
Barragan noted, “We have been actively looking for alternative therapies to treat metritis without the need for antibiotics. In our research, we focused on two main questions: Do the animals recover from this treatment? And do they perform similarly? While the alternative treatment matched the antibiotics in terms of clinical cure rate, performance outcomes varied according to the severity of the disease.”
The research specifically looked at intrauterine dextrose, a sugar solution, as a potential alternative. Dextrose has been widely studied for its effectiveness in both animal and human clinical settings; it works by drawing water out of harmful bacteria, causing them to dry out, thus leading to their death, according to Barragan. Although this method showed promise in human wound healing, previous studies in cattle produced inconsistent results.
“We were optimistic about finding beneficial results, but we certainly did not anticipate that both treatments would perform similarly in mild cases of metritis,” Barragan shared. “That was an incredibly exciting discovery.”
To assess the efficacy of dextrose, the researchers carried out their study on a dairy farm in central Pennsylvania, enrolling 77 cows diagnosed with clinical metritis. The cows were randomly assigned to either an intrauterine dextrose group or a systemic ceftiofur group. The researchers monitored the cows’ recovery and studied their uterine microbial communities through advanced DNA sequencing to gain insights into the overall health of their microbiomes.
Although the sample size was not ideal for determining the clinical cure rate, Barragan noted that results indicated both treatments achieved similar cure rates, suggesting dextrose could be as effective as antibiotics for treating mild cases of metritis.
Additionally, the analysis of the cows’ microbiomes showed that dextrose does not significantly upset the bacterial balance within the reproductive tract, unlike antibiotics, which can alter microbial communities and potentially affect the cow’s long-term health, according to Ganda.
While further research is required to explore the full potential of dextrose as an alternative to antibiotic treatments, Barragan believes its applications could extend to human medicine in the future.
“Our findings may have implications for treating reproductive diseases in humans,” he noted. “In fact, our work was inspired by medical literature regarding sugar-based wound treatments.”
The other contributors from Penn State included Jennine Lection, who is now an assistant professor at North Carolina State University after obtaining her doctorate from Penn State; Emily Van Syoc, a postdoctoral scholar; Asha Miles, a former postdoctoral research associate now working as a research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Julia Hamilton, an undergraduate student; Marcela Martinez, a research technologist; and Justin Silverman, an assistant professor of statistics and medicine. Santiago Bas from the Germany-based feed company Phytobiotics Futterzusatzstoffe GmbH also contributed to the study.
This research received funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Appropriations, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health.
