Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Quantitative analysis of antibiotic usage in British sheep flocks.
- Journal:
- The Veterinary record
- Year:
- 2017
- Authors:
- Davies, Peers et al.
- Affiliation:
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science · United Kingdom
Plain-English summary
This study looked at how much antibiotics are used in 207 sheep farms in Britain by analyzing records from their veterinarians. On average, these farms used much less antibiotics than the target level set for livestock in the UK. Most of the antibiotics were given to treat lameness, and a significant portion of the total usage came from just a small number of farms that used more antibiotics per sheep. The research found that the way veterinarians prescribe antibiotics has a big influence on how much is used overall. The authors believe that by understanding what causes high usage on certain farms, it may be possible to reduce antibiotic use in sheep farming.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the variation in antibiotic usage between 207 commercial sheep flocks using their veterinary practice prescribing records. Mean and median prescribed mass per population corrected unit (mg/PCU) was 11.38 and 5.95, respectively and closely correlated with animal defined daily dose (ADDD) 1.47 (mean), 0.74 (median) (R=0.84, P<0.001). This is low in comparison with the suggested target (an average across all the UK livestock sectors) of 50 mg/PCU. In total, 80 per cent of all antibiotic usage occurred in the 39 per cent of flocks where per animal usage was greater than 9.0 mg/PCU. Parenteral antibiotics, principally oxytetracycline, represented 82 per cent of the total prescribed mass, 65.5 per cent of antibiotics (mg/PCU) were prescribed for the treatment of lameness. Oral antibiotics were prescribed to 49 per cent of flocks, 64 per cent of predicted lamb crop/farm. Lowland flocks were prescribed significantly more antibiotics than hill flocks. Variance partitioning apportioned 79 per cent of variation in total antibiotic usage (mg/PCU) to the farm level and 21 per cent to the veterinary practice indicating that veterinary practices have a substantial impact on overall antimicrobial usage. Reducing antibiotic usage in the sheep sector should be possible with better understanding of the drivers of high usage in individual flocks and of veterinary prescribing practices.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29051311/