Abstract
Access to quality veterinary antimicrobial products contributes to efficient treatment of diseases in Vietnamese livestock and to reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Poor quality antimicrobial drugs can lead to treatment failure, potentially influencing the inappropriate use of antimicrobials products, including increasing the dose, combining drugs, or changing to a broader spectrum antimicrobial. The objective of the study was to determine the actual concentration of antimicrobial active ingredient (AAI) in commercially available veterinary antimicrobial products as an indicator of their quality. A total of 144 veterinary antimicrobial products were purchased from randomly selected veterinary drug stores in 34 districts in eight provinces. For the qualitative analysis, we observed criteria linked to form, colour, and labelling information according to the Department of Animal Health regulations. For the quantitative analysis, high-performance liquid chromatography was used to determine the actual concentration of AAI in each sample. Of the 144 samples, 131 (91%) met the national standard of quality of being within ±10% of the labelled concentration. Ten antimicrobials (6.9%) contained less than half of the labelled content concentrations. Veterinary antimicrobial product quality control is an important part of addressing AMR. To support the national action plan to lower AMR, a veterinary drug quality control program should be implemented at all stages of the supply chain to assure high quality drugs and effective treatment of sick animals.
Highlights
High quality veterinary antimicrobial products are important for efficient treatment of diseases in livestock, aquaculture and companion animals
Access to high quality veterinary antimicrobial products is an important part of the effort to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Vietnamese livestock, aquaculture and public health sector [1]
Of the 227 antimicrobial active ingredient (AAI) tested, 79 samples (35%) had higher AAI concentration than what was stated on the label (>100%). and 10 samples (4.4%) had an actual concentration lower than 50% from what was stated on the label
Summary
High quality veterinary antimicrobial products are important for efficient treatment of diseases in livestock, aquaculture and companion animals. Access to high quality veterinary antimicrobial products is an important part of the effort to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Vietnamese livestock, aquaculture and public health sector [1]. Treatment failure could be the result of using a poor-quality drug with a lower concentration of antimicrobial active ingredient (AAI), or a sub-therapeutic AAI concentration [1]. Quality of veterinary antimicrobial products the concentration of the AAI is lower than stated on the label, the pathogens could be exposed to sub-therapeutic levels of antimicrobials. Sub-therapeutic treatment might not kill all the bacteria, allowing bacteria resistant to the antimicrobial drugs to survive, thereby contributing to AMR in animals [2]. If a high-quality antimicrobial product had been used as the first treatment option, that would have been sufficient [1]
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