Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide issue whereby a more prudent use of medications is needed, especially for those antimicrobials (AM) classified by WHO as ‘highest priority critically important antimicrobials’ (HPCIAs). So far, data on antimicrobial use (AMU) among EU countries have been mostly reported at sales level while information on real use at farm level, particularly in beef cattle, is poor. The most accredited technical unit to measure AMU is the Defined Daily Dose which can be used to calculate the Treatment Incidence 100 (TI100), an indicator to assess the frequency of treatments. Italy is the 2nd EU country in terms of AM sales in livestock production but information on AMU for the Italian beef production is lacking. The aim of this study was to describe AMU in Italian beef sector. Data were collected from January 2016 to April 2019 from specialised fattening farms of a cooperative of beef producers (AZoVe), leading to a final dataset of 1,376 batches. Body weight, starting and finishing days of the fattening cycle and number of animals per batch were included in the dataset, and a TI100 per batch was calculated using Defined Daily Dose Animal for Italy (DDDAit) as technical unit. Data on reason for administration (e.g. type of disease) and number of treated animals were also collected. Data were analysed using SAS 9.4. Results showed a significant reduction in the TI100 as time progressed (P=0.0051) as well as for the TI100 calculated based on the HPCIAs only (P=0.0164) although about 40% of the total amount of treatments administered were still HPCIAs. The most common reason of administration of AM was for respiratory diseases (68.9%) perhaps due to the common practice of keeping beef cattle in groups making more likely the spread of infectious diseases, which was followed by lameness (17.6%). Overall, data showed a general reduction of AMU in beef cattle though a still great use of HPCIAs was found. These findings may be of help in defining EU benchmark criteria for AMU leading in turn to appropriate intervention strategies for the reduction of AM.
Use of antimicrobials in beef cattle in Italy
A. Diana
;M. Santinello;M. Penasa;M. De Marchi
2020
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide issue whereby a more prudent use of medications is needed, especially for those antimicrobials (AM) classified by WHO as ‘highest priority critically important antimicrobials’ (HPCIAs). So far, data on antimicrobial use (AMU) among EU countries have been mostly reported at sales level while information on real use at farm level, particularly in beef cattle, is poor. The most accredited technical unit to measure AMU is the Defined Daily Dose which can be used to calculate the Treatment Incidence 100 (TI100), an indicator to assess the frequency of treatments. Italy is the 2nd EU country in terms of AM sales in livestock production but information on AMU for the Italian beef production is lacking. The aim of this study was to describe AMU in Italian beef sector. Data were collected from January 2016 to April 2019 from specialised fattening farms of a cooperative of beef producers (AZoVe), leading to a final dataset of 1,376 batches. Body weight, starting and finishing days of the fattening cycle and number of animals per batch were included in the dataset, and a TI100 per batch was calculated using Defined Daily Dose Animal for Italy (DDDAit) as technical unit. Data on reason for administration (e.g. type of disease) and number of treated animals were also collected. Data were analysed using SAS 9.4. Results showed a significant reduction in the TI100 as time progressed (P=0.0051) as well as for the TI100 calculated based on the HPCIAs only (P=0.0164) although about 40% of the total amount of treatments administered were still HPCIAs. The most common reason of administration of AM was for respiratory diseases (68.9%) perhaps due to the common practice of keeping beef cattle in groups making more likely the spread of infectious diseases, which was followed by lameness (17.6%). Overall, data showed a general reduction of AMU in beef cattle though a still great use of HPCIAs was found. These findings may be of help in defining EU benchmark criteria for AMU leading in turn to appropriate intervention strategies for the reduction of AM.
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