Monitoring of Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals: Principles and Practices

Abstract

This chapter reviews information relevant to the design and scope of antimicrobial resistance monitoring and surveillance programs for animals and food, with emphasis on program purposes and methods. The chapter describes some of the essential features of existing monitoring and surveillance programs in various countries around the world. It shows how these programs have been useful in improving understanding of resistance and its relation to antimicrobial use and other factors, guiding public policy, and measuring the impact of interventions on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals, food, and humans. The major methodological considerations for the monitoring program include the types of samples to be collected, sampling strategies, species of bacteria, antimicrobials for susceptibility testing, data collection and analysis, and reporting of results. Comprehensive monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in animals in the context of animal and human health covers the entire farm-to-fork continuum. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has been active in developing new approaches for the preapproval assessment of antimicrobial resistance risks from antimicrobials used in animals. The Japanese Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring (JVARM) program examines the susceptibility of bacteria from food-producing animals to antimicrobial agents. Most programs focus on pathogenic bacteria or Salmonella, but some also report data on resistance in indicator bacteria isolated from healthy animals. Knowledge about antimicrobial resistance should be combined with knowledge regarding the usage of antimicrobial agents for different food animal species, which also should be performed on an internationally comparable basis.