ABSTRACT
The sulfonamides have been used extensively in veterinary medicine both for prophylaxis and therapy of infectious disease of livestock because of their ease of administration in feed or water, their low cost, and their continued efficacy. In human medicine, many newer antimicrobial drugs have largely supplanted the sulfonamides due to bacterial resistance. Because ofthis widespread use in veterinary medicine and animal agriculture. Most sulfonamides, except for the enterics, are readily absorbed after oral administration. Intramuscular and subcutaneous dosing require buffering to avoid perivascular reactions. They are also absorbed well from the peritoneal cavity. Sulfonamides are widely distributed throughout the body, a fact which supports their in vivo efficacy. There is a wide variation in the extent of protein binding, and the drugs do not generally penetrate fibrinous material. The sulfonamides are biotransformed by hepatic acetylation to microbiologically inactive products, the extent being dependent upon species.
