Antimicrobial use in dairy cattle in the Netherlands.

Abstract

Since penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming (1929), the mortality of infectious diseases decreased and antimicrobials were widely applied in both human and veterinary medicine. As early as 1940, penicillinase-producing bacteria were described (Abraham and Chain, 1940). In that same decade, already epidemics of antimicrobial-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus occurred in U.S. hospitals. In those days, physicians heavily relied on antimicrobials, both for treatment and for prophylaxis. Outbreaks of resistant S. aureus forced the implementation of epidemiological studies and novel infection control measures, such as segregation, as has been described by Shaffer (2013). In veterinary medicine, antimicrobials were initially used therapeutically, but soon nontherapeutic use was also found to be attractive. Feeding low dosages of antimicrobials promoted growth and was considered to prophylactically protect against bacterial disease. After World War II, this type of use of antimicrobials through feed was rapidly adopted by farmers, eager to anticipate on the booming post-war demand for meat (Kirchhelle, 2018).