Chloramphenicol should not be given orally to ruminating animals because it is almost completely inactivated by rumen bacteria. Chloramphenicol is inappropriate for use in animals intended for food because of potential health hazards to consumers. Chloramphenicol residues in food would be readily absorbed by the consumer and could lead to sensitization. Distribution Chloramphenicol is ideally distributed throughout the body. Therapeutic concentrations are even reached in the eye.
Volume of distribution varies with species.
Perhaps procedural problems in making the estimation led to an error. Elimination Chloramphenicol is eliminated primarily by biotransformation. This is sufficient to produce therapeutic concentrations in the urine. In other species, e.g., dog and rat, urinary elimination is still dominant, but increased amounts are elimination in bile as aromatic amines. The glucuronide conjugate is formed by glucuronyl transferase in the liver.