Effects of erythromycin-inactivating Lactobacillus crop flora on blood levels of erythromycin given orally to chicks

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Abstract
Germ-free, day-old chickens were colonized with a L. fermentum strain, isolated from poultry, which inactivated in vitro erythromycin and other macrolide and lincosamide antibiotics [antibacterial agents]. Similar control chickens were colonized with a non-degrading L. fermentum strain. Only in chickens colonized with the non-degrading strain were blood levels considered to be therapeutically active achieved with erythromycin in the drinking water. Five groups of broiler chickens of different age originating from 3 farms all possessed an erythromycin-degrading crop flora. In none of these were therapeutic blood levels attained when erythromycin was given in the drinking water.