Abstract
The indiscriminate usage of antimicrobials in the animal health sector contributes immensely to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The present study aims to assess the antimicrobial usage pattern and risk factors for AMR in animal husbandry sector of India. A cross-sectional survey about Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) among veterinarians was carried out using a questionnaire comprising of 52 parameters associated with antibiotic use and the emergence of AMR in dairy herds. Respondents’ KAP scores were estimated to rank their level of knowledge, attitude, and practice. Furthermore, risk factors associated with treatment failure were analyzed by univariable and multivariable analyses. Out of a total of 466 respondents, the majority had average knowledge (69.5%), neutral attitude (93.2%), and moderate practice (51.3%) scores toward judicious antibiotic usage. Veterinarians reported mastitis (88.0%), reproductive disorders (76.6%), and hemoprotozoan infections (49.6%) as the top three disease conditions that require antibiotic usage. Most of the veterinarians (90.6%) resorted to their “own experience” as the main criteria for antibiotic choice. The use of the highest priority critically important antimicrobials (HPCIA) listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in animals, particularly quinolones (76.8%) and third-generation cephalosporins (47.8%), has been reported. On multivariable regression analysis of the risk factors, the lack of cooperation of the dairy farmers in the completion of a prescribed antibiotic course by the veterinarian and the demand for antibiotic use even in conditions not requiring antibiotic use were found to be significantly associated with the outcome variable “treatment failure” having respective odds of 1.8 (95%CI: 1.1–3.0) and 3.6 (95%CI: 2.3–5.8) (p < 0.05). The average KAP score of veterinarians, poor farm management practices, lack of awareness among farmers on prudent antibiotic use, and lack of antibiotic stewardship are the significant factors that need attention to combat the rising AMR in veterinary sector in India.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health threats that has been projected to cause globally 10 million deaths and US$100 trillion economic loss by 2050 [1]
The emerging intensive farming practices of the country has been posited as the hotspots of antibiotic resistance, and by 2030, the use of antibiotics in food animals has been projected to increase by 82% [2]
The demographic profile of the participants belonged to twenty-five states of India, which were grouped into six geographical regions (Table 1)
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health threats that has been projected to cause globally 10 million deaths and US$100 trillion economic loss by 2050 [1]. In order to meet the food security of burgeoning human population, the economic scale production of food animals favor the high-density farming operations, which could double the antibiotic consumption by livestock in developing countries by 2030 [2,3]. The emerging intensive farming practices of the country has been posited as the hotspots of antibiotic resistance, and by 2030, the use of antibiotics in food animals has been projected to increase by 82% [2]. The threat of antibiotic resistance from the foods of animal origin has been discussed in many recent studies in India, highlighting the need for the judicious use of antibiotics in the animal health sector of the country [7,8,9]. A “National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance” has been enforced for optimizing antibiotic use in the country, strict enforcement still needs to be executed at the ground level [10,11,12]
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