When one considers how many bacteria./ viruses / fungi could hide in a 1/10 mm crack and that all chemical disinfectants don't work in the presence of organic matter, one comes to the conclusion that a flame is perhaps the best disinfectant. One just needs to watch that one doesn't burn down the loft lol.
Then again natural immunity from a sterile loft? Oxymoron, Corpoghraphy whatever. It never will happen. A complete impossibility and waste of money. The natural immunity is a must! However sometimes a helping hand may be beneficial.
To build immunity birds have to be exposed to the pathogens first. One can scrape a loft daily and never get rid of all the nasty's. Is that is good? For one can over sterilize the loft so as not not to build immunity.
The discovery of antibiotics more than 70 years ago initiated a period of drug innovation and implementation in human and animal health and agriculture. These discoveries were tempered in all cases by the emergence of resistant microbes1, 2. This history has been interpreted to mean that antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is a modern phenomenon; this view is reinforced by the fact that collections of microbes that predate the antibiotic era are highly susceptible to antibiotics3. Here we report targeted metagenomic analyses of rigorously authenticated ancient DNA from 30,000-year-old Beringian permafrost sediments and the identification of a highly diverse collection of genes encoding resistance to β-lactam, tetracycline and glycopeptide antibiotics. (Oxtetracycline was the only one once for Salmonella, may still be?)
Structure and function studies on the complete vancomycin resistance element VanA confirmed its similarity to modern variants. These results show conclusively that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that predates the modern selective pressure of clinical antibiotic use."
The microb always develops itself to resist antibiots to stays live. Has too obviously.
A week after grilling hamburgers in his backyard in November 2011, business consultant Kenneth Koehler became violently ill. He suffered stomach pains, diarrhea and nausea - and was rushed to the hospital emergency room.
Days later, his doctors told him that his burger was contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium, a strain commonly found in ground beef.
But Koehler's salmonella was more dangerous than he realized. Records provided to Reuters by
Koehler showed that the salmonella strain in the ground beef was resistant to nine types of antibiotics. Three of the antibiotics that didn't work were cephalosporins, including ceftriaxone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention records.
Neither Koehler, 56, nor his doctors know for certain whether ceftiofur had been administered to any of the cows whose meat was contaminated. But they knew the drugs that his salmonella strain were resisting. That's because he was among the last of 19 people from seven states sickened in the outbreak, according to Koehler and the CDC records.
Based on the CDC's testing of the salmonella strain, Koehler said, his doctors already determined ceftriaxone wouldn't work. Instead, they prescribed ciprofloxacin, a powerful antibiotic in a different drug category. In humans, about 3 percent of all salmonella samples tested in 2012 by the CDC were resistant to ceftriaxone.
'They went directly to cipro,' Koehler said of his doctors. 'To put it bluntly, this salmonella really kicked my butt.'
Investigators for the Maine branch of the CDC tested the leftover beef in Koehler's freezer. The tests showed the source of his salmonella was ground beef bought at a supermarket.
Koehler was fortunate. He was treated and released the same day. Eight other people with ceftriaxone-resistant salmonella were hospitalized in the same outbreak, according to the CDC records.
One thing I have found by those that sell hamburgers is that the customer is often asked 'How do you want your hamburger done?' They don't seem to understand that there is really only one SAFE way to cook hamburgers - and that is THOROUGHLY. At home, proper cooking of hamburgers or tenderized steak means that there should not be any pink in the centre of the meat if it is cooked thoroughly. Cutting boards, utensils need to be disinfected afterward, etc.. It's all common sense, not rocket science.
Re: Antibiotic resistance in bacteria, for many years I've wondered if one approach could be to retire specific antibiotics from use as soon as possible when bacterial resistance begins to develop, and store these antibiotics (and/or the moulds that produced them originally) in bio-secure facilities. For years if necessary. Then, as the newer generations of antibiotics start to fail because of bacterial resistance, test these stored antibiotics to determine if they might be as effective as they were originally. Just a thought.
For fanciers I'd suggest a few things: As much as possible, avoid the use of antibiotics, and other treatments in pigeons. Instead try to develop strong natural resistance whenever possible. When treatment is actually proved to be needed, use the full recommended dose for the full recommended time. Avoid the so-called preventive treatments that too many fanciers use or recommend just before the breeding and racing seasons. Why preventively treat a condition that may not even exist in your birds? This approach just knocks out the billions of protective bacteria in the digestive system. The gut needs them!
Now take Amoxicillin. What is really the right prescribe dosage?
It's a question for which there is not an easy answer. It depends what you want to kill with it for starters. (If you know!) Then how resistant these bacteria are to the amoxicillin. Once you know this ( Well what percentage of Vets, let alone fanciers know that?) you will need to know how much water the birds drink at this time of year in your loft. That's why many fanciers give medication over their feed nowadays.
The following is therefore based on many assumptions: Let's assume that your birds are not feeding youngsters and let us assume that each bird drinks 50 ml water per day. (80 birds drink 1 gallon in 1 day) (Obviously different quota for different birds due to health, energy or stress, breeding and the individuality etc, of the bird. So how can there be a rule of the thumb! Further lets assume that the bacteria you want to kill are susceptible when exposed to 20 mg amoxicillin per bird per day. (1600 mg added to 1 gallon) - (Again the variations and possibilities are endless) After water is added to the bottle of amoxicillin how many ml would this bottle have now? (There are various formulations of this antibiotic)
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The N.E.H.U race from Melton Mowbray 21/4/2012 was won by Peel bros of South Shields, they took 1st club 1st fed, also taking 2nd and 4th club and 15 of the 25 birds clocked in the club......well done Peel brothers.
