Use of antibiotics in farming and stakes in public health

Abstract

Antibiotics used as veterinary drugs must be prescribed for treatment of animal disease of bacterial origin. Veterinary practitioners are responsible for the prudent use of antibiotics and they must base their prescription on medical evidence combining epidemiolo-gical knowledge, laboratory results and professional experience. Any use of antibiotics creates a selective pressure favorable for any resistant bacteria (pathogenic or commensal). Several epidemiological systems have been built to monitor antibiotic resistance and antibiotic usage in France in order to assess the type of usage and their frequency as well as the level of resistance in main bacterial species. This data collection is being completed by research activities on the genes and mechanisms of resistance, on antibiotic pharmacology and also on the pharmaco-epidemiology study of the relationship between antibiotic use, prevention of disease and emergence and dissemination of resistance.