Longitudinal study of antimicrobial use patterns, vaccination and disease prevalence in British sheep flocks

Davies, Peers L ORCID: 0000-0001-6085-9763, Hyde, Robert M and Lovatt, Fiona M (2023) Longitudinal study of antimicrobial use patterns, vaccination and disease prevalence in British sheep flocks. VETERINARY RECORD, 193 (2). e2786-.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/vetr.2786

Abstract

<h4>Background</h4>The aim of the study was to describe the longitudinal dynamics of antimicrobial use (AMU) on sheep farms and explore associations between AMU and management factors, vaccination strategies, reproductive performance and prevalence of lameness.<h4>Methods</h4>Antimicrobial supply data were collected for 272 British sheep farms for 3-6 consecutive years between 2015 and 2021. These data were obtained from the farms' veterinary practices.<h4>Results</h4>Annual median AMU ranged from 8.1 to 11.8 mg/kg population corrected unit. AMU was skewed in each year with a small proportion of very high users. AMU within farms varied substantially between years. High AMU farms in 1 year were not necessarily high in other years. No associations between AMU and either vaccine usage or lameness prevalence were found.<h4>Limitations</h4>The study design requires veterinarians and farmers to volunteer their data. This unavoidably introduces the potential for a participation bias.<h4>Conclusions</h4>AMU on sheep farms is generally low, with a small number of farms being responsible for high usage. Targeting antimicrobial stewardship effort towards the small minority of persistently high users may be more appropriate than a focus on generic, industry-wide attempts to reduce overall AMU.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Animals, Sheep, Lameness, Animal, Sheep Diseases, Anti-Infective Agents, Vaccination, Prevalence, Longitudinal Studies, Farms
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 May 2023 14:02
Last Modified:	24 Aug 2023 05:37
DOI:	10.1002/vetr.2786
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.2786
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3170173