Informing Stewardship Measures in Canadian Food Animal Species through Integrated Reporting of Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Data-Part II, Application.

Agnes Agunos,Anne E Deckert,Sheryl P Gow,David F Léger

doi:10.3390/pathogens10111491

Abstract

Using the methodology developed for integrated analysis and reporting of antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data, farm-level surveillance data were synthesized and integrated to assess trends and explore potential AMU and AMR associations. Data from broiler chicken flocks (n = 656), grower–finisher pig herds (n = 462) and turkey flocks (n = 339) surveyed by the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS) at the farm-level (2015–2019) were used. The analyses showed a reduction in mean flock/herd level number of defined daily doses using Canadian standards (nDDDvetCA) adjusted for kg animal biomass that coincided with the decline in % resistance in the three species. This was noted in most AMU-AMR pairs studied except for ciprofloxacin resistant Campylobacter where resistance continued to be detected (moderate to high levels) despite limited fluoroquinolone use. Noteworthy was the significantly negative association between the nDDDvetCA/kg animal biomass and susceptible Escherichia coli (multispecies data), an early indication that AMU stewardship actions are having an impact. However, an increase in the reporting of diseases in recent years was observed. This study highlighted the value of collecting high-resolution AMU surveillance data with animal health context at the farm-level to understand AMR trends, enable data integration and measure the impact of AMU stewardship actions.

Highlights

Antimicrobials play an important role in the control of pathogens in food animal production; antimicrobial use (AMU) has contributed to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic foodborne bacteria
Linkages between AMU in livestock and AMR have been reported in the European Union’s (EU) joint interagency antimicrobial consumption and resistance analysis (JIACRA) report [12]. These results emphasize that integration of AMU and AMR data from food producing animal species is essential towards understanding the larger ecology of AMR [13]
The methodology for AMU-AMR data integration involved descriptive and temporal analysis of AMU/AMR data according to routine Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS) methods [53,56], synthesis of results, selection of AMUAMR pairs, followed by AMU-AMR analysis using modelling approaches, and data visualization of the combined data

Summary

Introduction

Antimicrobials play an important role in the control of pathogens in food animal production; antimicrobial use (AMU) has contributed to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic foodborne bacteria. Linkages between AMU in livestock and AMR have been reported in the European Union’s (EU) joint interagency antimicrobial consumption and resistance analysis (JIACRA) report [12] These results emphasize that integration of AMU and AMR data from food producing animal species is essential towards understanding the larger ecology of AMR [13]. Step 2, implemented in 2017, removed Category II antimicrobials (aminoglycosides [AMGL], macrolides [MACR], penicillins [PEN] and streptogramins [STRE]) for preventative use and step 3, the final step, focused on removal of preventative use of Category III antimicrobials, including bacitracins (BAC) and tetracyclines (TET) [19,20] This approach to AMU stewardship aligns with the national [17] and global [14,15,16] recommendations. Information on AMU (e.g., trends over time, changes in total or class-specific quantity, profile of antimicrobial classes used, reasons for use) and AMR (e.g., trends over time, prevalence of multiclass resistance or susceptible isolates, resistance profiles), and how these surveillance data components relate to each other (i.e., AMU-AMR linkages) provides the “state of science” for AMU and AMR in animals and its potential implications in people, and is integral to antimicrobial stewardship and for measuring the impact of regulatory and voluntary changes in AMU

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Discussion

Conclusion