There is an urgent need for better data on the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs in animal agriculture, warned an editorial in the journal, Animal Health Research Reviews.
The open source journal, which provides an international forum for reviews and commentaries on animal health, recently published a special issue that examined the evidence base for antibiotic use to prevent disease in beef and dairy cattle, swine and broiler poultry.
“As the articles in this special issue demonstrate, veterinarians and food animal producers know far too little about scientifically validated prevention or control measures, including antibiotic efficacy and antibiotic alternatives that reliably support antibiotic stewardship. More and better research on these topics is urgently needed,” scientists from the University of Guelph in Canada and Iowa State University wrote in an editorial introducing the 14 article collection.
Antibiotic stewardship programs seek to find ways to responsibility and judiciously use antibiotics as a tool to prevent, treat and control diseases in livestock production. An August 2019 report showed a significant decrease in antibiotic use in the broiler and turkey industries in recent years in response to growing consumer demand for antibiotic-free and no antibiotics ever poultry.
Examining the outcomes
The collection of articles analyzed the implementation and effectiveness of antibiotic use and alternative management practices designed to keep animals healthy.
While some of the interventions were effective, the research overwhelmingly revealed inconsistent outcomes among trials. For example, one of the articles found a complete lack of evidence to support the use of litter management and preventive antibiotics to treat E. coli in poultry.
"As the threat of antimicrobial resistance grows, stewardship of these vital drugs is increasingly important in both human and animal health," the editors conclude. "Important facets of antimicrobial stewardship include using antibiotics judiciously as well as taking measures to minimize the need to use antimicrobials at all."
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