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Research

2017

Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

IgYs as an Alternative Approach to Antibiotics

Zajac J, Schubert A, Oelkrug C (2017) IgYs as an Alternative Approach to Antibiotics. J Antimicrob Agents 3: 144. doi: 10.4172/2472-1212.1000144

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Misuse and overdose of antibiotics in agriculture and human disease lead to a worldwide problem of resistant bacteria. In 2012, 10,000 metric tons of antibiotics in the US and 8,000 in Europe were used in animals for the food industry. Resistance can be transferred within and between bacteria species, but also spread easily over to humans by contact with contaminated food, soil or infected animals and patients. To find a successful therapy against resistant microbes is extremely difficult due to the high cost of developing next generation antibiotics and its production, but also because of bacteria ability of developing new mechanisms against these drugs. Therefore, technology based on avian antibodies IgYs can be a strong alternative for antibiotic therapy. Advantages of IgYs include: low costs, effective and non-harmful method of production. But the strongest argument is that they cannot be affected by bacterial resistance. IgYs can be used not only as a preventative or therapeutic but also as growth promoters in food production. In this review we present the reasons for antibiotic resistance in bacteria and its consequences in the field of farming and human medicine, including molecular biology mechanisms and statistics. Furthermore we introduce IgYs as a promising and potential candidate for the replacement of antibiotics in the near future.

Other Research

Calf Research

Development of an IgY-Based Treatment to Control Bovine Coronavirus Diarrhea in Dairy Calves

2023

Viruses

Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) is a major pathogen associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. Standard practice dictates that to prevent BCoV diarrhea, dams should be immunized in the last stage of pregnancy…

Calf Research

Effect of immunized egg proteins on the performance and neonatal diarrhoea incidence in newborn calves

2021

Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of feeding immunized egg proteins (IEP) on the health and performance of newborn dairy calves. Sixty-four Holstein calves, both male…

Calf Research

A new passive immune strategy based on IgY antibodies as a key element to control neonatal calf diarrhea in dairy farms

2020

BMC Veterinary Research

Neonatal diarrhea remains one of the main causes of morbi-mortality in dairy calves under artificial rearing. It is often caused by infectious agents of viral, bacterial, or parasitic origin. Cows…

EgCel IgY: Technology

Explore our resources library in detail to learn how we are pusuing our vision to be the IgY technology that fills the gap left by the reduction of antibiotic and NSAID use in animal through continual innovation, learning, and challenging the status quo.