Tom - Animal healthcare

Antibiotic resistance represents a threat to both animal and human health, as it reduces the efficacy of treatment. All professionals working in animal healthcare are impacted by antibiotic resistance.

  • Animals may be administered antibiotics: to treat an infection that will not heal on its own, or to treat infections that can sometimes be transmitted to humans (zoonoses). The use of antibiotics can lead to the selection of resistant strains of bacteria within the microbiota of the animal being treated.
  • Resistant bacteria can be spread: an animal can be infected by humans, by another animal or through the environment and, subsequently, can be a source of transmission. Therefore, even an animal that has never been administered an antibiotic can carry resistant bacteria. Farming effluents may contain resistant bacteria and antibiotic residues that can contaminate the environment.

Solutions exist to limit antibiotic resistance in animal healthcare. 

As a professional, you can help! 

By minimising the use of antibiotics

  • Use antibiotics responsibly, avoiding unnecessary or inappropriate prescriptions. Choose the most appropriate antibiotic based on an antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST).

By educating animal owners

  • Inform animal owners of the risks associated with inappropriate use of antibiotics and advocate preventive practices such as biosecurity, improved animal welfare, and vaccination. Highlight the importance of returning unused antibiotics to a vet or pharmacist, or, if used on a farm, in following the proper disposal procedures (and never to dispose of medication in the toilet or rubbish bin).

By keeping up to date on developments in resistance

  • Les Laboratoires Nationaux de Référence pour la Résistance Antimicrobienne (LNR-RA) implement coordinated monitoring across EU Member States. Résapath, the French network for the epidemiology of, and monitoring of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria in animals, is coordinated by ANSES and publishes an annual report on resistance rates and trends in France. An online application (Résapath online) provides resistance data by sector, disease, and pathogen.

By complying with regulations and recommendations

  • Veterinary surgeons have access to guidelines on the proper use of antibiotics. Certain antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones and third/fourth-generation cephalosporins, are subject to strict regulations and may not be prescribed without an antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) having been carried out beforehand. Carbapenems are prohibited for use in veterinary medicine. If an animal bred for human consumption has been administered an antibiotic, a statutory withdrawal period applies in France and the European Union, i.e. a minimum period between the last administration of an antibiotic and the slaughter or production of food from that animal, thereby ensuring that there are no antibiotic residues in products intended for human consumption. 

By minimising contamination of the environment by resistant bacteria and antibiotic residues

  • In France and throughout Europe, strict restrictions on the use of antibiotics in animals help to limit contamination of manure and effluents. There are also various techniques, such as manure composting, to reduce the release of antibiotic residues into the environment. Pharmaceutical companies producing veterinary antibiotics have a responsibility to limit the contamination of water and soil caused by antibiotic residues.