Effect of apitherapy in piglets with preweaning diarrhea.
This study was designed to examine the therapeutic effect of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) venom in piglets with bacterial diarrhea Comparison between bee venom- and drug-treated groups was our main concern in the present study. Preweaning piglets were assigned to treated and non-treated control groups. In the treated group, 47 piglets were acupunctured with the worker honeybee once a day for three consecutive days. Two acupoints, GV-1 (Jiao-chao) and ST-25 (Hai-men), were selected for apitherapy. In the control group, 44 piglets were intramuscularly injected with a standard dose of a known antibacterial drug, colistin sulfate (300,000 IU/kg of body weight), and an antidiarrheal drug (berberine, 2 ml/kg) once a day for three consecutive days. At post-treatment, 90.9% of the control piglets and 93.6% of piglets in the treated group recovered from bacterial diarrhea. Bee acupuncture therapy did not show any side effects such as allergy, intoxication, hemorrhage or infection. It is concluded that bee venom therapy was effective in controlling bacterial diarrhea in preweaning piglets.
Choi
Seok Hwa
SH
College of Veterinary Medicine and Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National Univeristy, Cheongju, Korea.
Cho
Seong Koo
SK
Kang
Seong Soo
SS
Bae
Chun Sik
CS
Bai
Young Hoon
YH
Lee
Seung Hoo
SH
Pak
Sok Cheon
SC
D000818:Animals; D001514:Bee Venoms / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012007:Rectum / Q000473:pathology; D013552:Swine
D001514:Bee Venoms