1.1.1 Therapeutic uses of antimicrobials in animals
‘Therapeutic use means the administration of an antimicrobial agent to an individual or group of animals to treat, control or prevent infectious disease’
Even with good
Definitions for therapeutic uses of antimicrobials in animals are provided in Table 1.
Term | Definition |
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Treatment | Administration of an antimicrobial to an individual or a group of animals showing clinical signs of an infectious disease. Situations where antimicrobials may be used in clinically sick animals are many and varied. Common bacterial diseases in food animals that often require antimicrobials include mastitis, |
Control | Administration of an antimicrobial to a group of animals including sick and healthy animals (presumed to be infected), to minimise or resolve clinical signs and to prevent further spread of the disease. Control is sometimes called Situations where antimicrobials may be used for control include bacterial respiratory diseases in intensively reared animals, post-weaning diarrhoea, |
Prevention | Administration of an antimicrobial to an individual or a group of animals at risk of acquiring a specific infection or in a particular situation where infectious disease is likely to occur if the drug is not administered. Prevention is sometimes called Situations where antimicrobials may be used when an animal is not currently diseased include giving an antimicrobial after surgery or traumatic injury, when animals are under a lot of stress such as being raised in a feedlot to prevent respiratory disease or foot infections, dry cow therapy for dairy animals, or to prevent liver abscesses caused by high-grain diets. |
Ideally, antimicrobials should only be prescribed for therapeutic purposes by a veterinarian or a trained person (e.g, veterinary paraprofessional) under the supervision of a veterinarian, according to national laws (OIE, 2019).
However, the reality in many low- and middle-income countries (
1 Use of antimicrobials in animal health