After a significant decrease in antimicrobial use in animals for several consecutive years, new data reveals a 2 percent increase between 2019 and 2021. The latest report published by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) was released at the Meeting of the Global Leaders Group (GLG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) held in Sweden.
The report includes data submitted to ANIMUSE (the global database on ANimal antiMicrobial USE) by 152 of WOAH’s 182 members, which comes from sales and import figures of antimicrobial agents.
“The animal health sector plays a pivotal role in the efforts to curb AMR by promoting a more responsible use of antimicrobials,” Dr Monique Eloit, WOAH. “Therefore, it has to be adequately supported to help accelerate the response to this still growing threat.
WOAH, which started monitoring the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals in 2015, is pushing to “limit the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria,” the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy Overuse at the University of Minnesota, reported. A possible contribution to rising rates of AMR is the overuse of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals.
Animal antibiotic use rose from 107.3 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) in 2019 to 107.9 mg/kg in 2021. The most-used antimicrobial class was tetracyclines accounting for 35.6 percent of the total amount. Bovine species accounted for 41 percent followed by swine (21 percent), poultry (18 percent), and aquatic species (9 percent).
“The need for urgent action has never been more evident,” Jakob Forssmed, GLG member and minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, said. “Robust surveillance systems are critical to support informed decision-making that will enable the implementation of cost-effective AMR interventions under a One Health approach.”
The report confirmed that close to 20 percent of WOAH member states were using antimicrobials as growth promoters, which is a practice discouraged by WOAH as well as other global health agencies. Eleven percent of the member states were using colistin, antimicrobials for human medicine, to promote growth
“I would like to call upon our Members to restrict their use of antimicrobials solely to those needed for veterinary medical purposes, and to actively work with all parties to achieve a total ban on the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters, starting with those that are critically important for human health,” Eloit said.
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