Abstract
BackgroundAntimicrobial consumption in veterinary medicine is of great importance. Increased awareness by the public and media has led to demands for decreased use of antimicrobials in pigs. This study aimed to identify risk factors for regular oral antimicrobial consumption in Swiss fattening pig farms, and to quantify the amount of antimicrobial active substances administered orally to pigs at the farm level.ResultsA case–control study was performed on 99 fattening farms between May 2014 and January 2015. Seventy-two case farms (with oral group treatment of antimicrobials in at least 50 % of pigs) and 27 control farms (with no regular oral group treatment) were visited once during the study. Data about potential risk factors and antimicrobial consumption were collected by questionnaire. Antimicrobial consumption was recorded and treatment incidence (TI) was calculated for all farms over a one year period. Sulphonamides and tetracyclines were the antimicrobials consumed in the greatest quantity. The median TI for oral antimicrobial use in the case group was 224.7. In the control group, the median TI was 0 for oral antimicrobial use, with values ranging from 0 to 140.1. In a multivariable regression model, seven risk factors associated with regular oral antimicrobial group treatment were identified: mixing pigs from different suppliers within the same pen, absence of a work protocol that ensures treating of healthy pigs before sick pigs, distance to next pig farm < 500 metres, external analysis of production parameters, no availability of dirty visitor boots, the farmer not working on other farms, and no application of homoeopathic agents.ConclusionsThe results of this study point out the importance of increasing farmers’ awareness of good farming practices and biosecurity. Important recommendations for decreasing oral antimicrobial consumption identified by this study include avoiding mixing pigs from different suppliers in the same pen and strictly handling sick pigs after healthy ones. Improvements in these areas could enhance the overall health of pigs and thereby reduce the consumption of antimicrobials on pig farms.
Highlights
Antimicrobial consumption in veterinary medicine is of great importance
The exact proportion of antimicrobials used in pigs in Switzerland is not known, pigs and cattle were estimated to account for the majority of the veterinary antimicrobial use in 2012 [3]
Farm characteristics A list of 437 potential participants was generated from the Swiss Pig Health Service (SGD) database
Summary
Antimicrobial consumption in veterinary medicine is of great importance. Increased awareness by the public and media has led to demands for decreased use of antimicrobials in pigs. The potential risks to public health arising from the high use of antimicrobials in animals have been discussed in various scientific publications as well as in the media [1]. Swine in Switzerland have a high health status, as the domestic Swiss swine population is free or almost free from several important diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and enzootic pneumonia [4]. Despite the high health status, antimicrobial use in Switzerland is still relatively high compared to other countries [5]. It could be speculated that there is substantial potential to reduce antimicrobial usage while maintaining a high animal health status
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