Monitoring antimicrobial use and resistance in veterinary medicine in Europe

2:25 PM - 3:10 PM

Since the publication of the UK government’s report on antimicrobial resistance with the now infamous figure of 10 million deaths being attributable to global antimicrobial resistance by 2050, the use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine has come under increasing scrutiny. While some countries, such as the USA and South Africa, still permit the use of antimicrobials as growth promoting agents to be used in livestock production, the EU banned this procedure in 2006. Since 2009, the EU has also published annual country comparisons of veterinary antimicrobial sales and is still working on establishing effective monitoring systems throughout the continent. A major cause for concern is the use of highest priority critically important antimicrobials (HPCIAs) for humans in veterinary medicine and the EMA has recently categorised a number of veterinary antimicrobial substances as to be used with caution or restricted use. These restrictions are expected to be included in the VMR, which will have major repercussions for veterinarians in clinical practice.