Source: MEATINGPLACE, 6/9/15

University of Wisconsin-Madison animal scientists have developed an antibiotic-free method to protect animals raised for food against common infections. The innovation comes as growing public concern about antibiotic resistance has induced McDonald's, Tyson Foods and other industry giants to announce major cuts in antibiotic use in meat production.

"You really can't control the bugs forever; they will always evolve a way to defeat your drugs," Mark Cook, a professor of animal sciences and entrepreneur, said in a news release. The work focuses on a fundamental immune "off-switch" called Interleukin 10 or IL-10, manipulated by bacteria and many other pathogens to defeat the immune system during infection. Cook and animal sciences associate researcher Jordan Sand have learned to disable this switch inside the intestine, the site of major farm animal infections such as the diarrheal disease coccidiosis. Cook vaccinates laying hens to create antibodies to IL-10. 

The hens put the antibody in eggs that are then sprayed on the feed of the animals he wants to protect. The antibody neutralizes the IL-10 off-switch in those animals, allowing their immune systems to better fight disease. In experiments with 300,000 chickens, those that ate the antibody-bearing material were fully protected against coccidiosis.

"People have manipulated the immune system for decades, but we are doing it in the gut. Nobody has done that before," Cook said.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.