18 Nov 2022
BEVA is inviting professionals to attend new online sessions on the issue to mark Antimicrobial Awareness Week (18 to 24 November).
Allister Webb
Job Title
More needs to be done to encourage the use of routine culture and sensitivity testing before antimicrobials are prescribed in equine practice, RVC researchers say.
The call follows the publication of a new study, thought to be the first of its kind, examining the treatment of more than 60,000 equids registered at nearly 40 practices across the UK.
And BEVA is offering two online sessions in the coming days for vets and VNs respectively on ways to reduce usage further.
The data was drawn from the RVC’s VetCompass programme and analysed in a project funded by the VMD, and has been released to mark the start of Antimicrobial Awareness Week.
It found that around 20% of animals attended by participating practices were prescribed a licensed antimicrobial. Of those, almost 9% received a category B drug of highest critical importance for human medical treatments.
But while usage levels were reported to be broadly in line with other studies, the researchers said more work was needed to identify reasons for the uncommon usage of bacterial culture testing, despite guidelines from bodies including BEVA, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organization.
The paper also identified most category B usage was in equids that were younger than a year old, Thoroughbreds and racehorses.
VetCompass data analyst Sarah Allen said she hoped the findings would encourage vets to compare and improve their own prescription techniques where necessary.
She said: “The importance of culture and sensitivity testing is well-known by veterinary practitioners. However, more still needs to be done to encourage its routine use – particularly prior to the prescription of category B antimicrobials.
“Not only will this help preserve their medicinal effectiveness and ensure the continued rights of veterinary practitioners to prescribe these critical classes, it will also crucially help minimise the detrimental effects of antimicrobial resistance on human and animal health.”
Meanwhile, BEVA is hosting two sessions examining current practices and potential ways of cutting antimicrobial use:
