Also known as reactive surveillance, this is ‘the observer-initiated provision of animal health-related data (e.g. voluntary notification of suspect disease) or the use of existing data for surveillance. Decisions about whether information is provided, and what information is provided from which animals, is made by the data provider’ (Hoinville, 2013).

Capable of causing disease.

A data collection tool, as a cross-sectional study, to obtain information on the prevalence of resistant bacteria, prescribing practices of antibiotics or other information relevant to treating and managing infectious diseases in hospitalised patients or animal production and the rest of the food chain.

How surveillance information is used by policy-makers to inform policy objectives.

The proportion of a population suffering from a particular disease at a particular time. For example, the proportion of Salmonella isolates that are resistant to a particular antimicrobial at the time of testing. 

Also known as prophylactic use, this is a series of measures designed to preserve health and prevent the spread of disease, protective or preventive treatment. For example, administering therapeutic doses of antimicrobials to groups of animals to prevent clinical disease.