South Africa currently loses over 1000 white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) each year to poaching incidents, and numbers of severely injured victims found alive have increased dramatically. However, little is known about the antimicrobial treatment of wounds in rhinoceros. This study explores the applicability of enrofloxacin for rhinoceros through the use of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling. The pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin were evaluated in five white rhinoceros after intravenous (i.v.) and after successive i.v. and oral administration of 12.5 mg/kg enrofloxacin. After i.v. administration, the half-life, area under the curve (AUCtot ), clearance and the volume of distribution were 12.41 ± 2.62 hr, 64.5 ± 14.44 μg ml-1 hr-1 , 0.19 ± 0.04 L h-1 kg-1 , and 2.09 ± 0.48 L/kg, respectively. Ciprofloxacin reached 26.42 ± 0.05% of the enrofloxacin plasma concentration. After combined i.v. and oral enrofloxacin administration oral bioavailability was 33.30 ± 38.33%. After i.v. enrofloxacin administration, the efficacy marker AUC24 : MIC exceeded the recommended ratio of 125 against bacteria with an MIC of 0.5 μg/mL. Subsequent intravenous and oral enrofloxacin administration resulted in a low Cmax: MIC ratio of 3.1. The results suggest that intravenous administration of injectable enrofloxacin could be a useful drug with bactericidal properties in rhinoceros. However, the maintenance of the drug plasma concentration at a bactericidal level through additional per os administration of 10% oral solution of enrofloxacin indicated for the use in chickens, turkeys and rabbits does not seem feasible.
Keywords: antimicrobial drug; enrofloxacin; fluoroquinolone; poaching; white rhinoceros.
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