{"id":23418,"date":"2024-04-02T18:31:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T16:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/?p=23418"},"modified":"2024-04-02T18:31:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T16:31:34","slug":"the-reality-of-antibiotic-use-in-animals-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/en\/the-reality-of-antibiotic-use-in-animals-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"The reality of antibiotic use in animals in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often hear sentences like “<\/i><\/span><\/span>Animals consume 70% of all antibiotics<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span>” But what does this mean exactly, and is it true?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It Is certainly <\/span><\/span>a great shock figure<\/b><\/span><\/span> that is often quoted, but the calculations – made many years ago – use<\/span><\/span> gross tonnage <\/b><\/span><\/span>to get this figure. Today this is considered<\/span><\/span> a poor way to compare the use of antibiotics in humans and animals<\/b><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you look instead at the more realistic population biomass-corrected calculation, the most recent data available indicates <\/span><\/span>a lower consumption of antibiotics in livestock than in people<\/b><\/span><\/span> in EU countries.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s not forget both the potency of the antibiotics used and the patient biomass <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Gross tonnage as a measurement does not consider two very important factors: the <\/span><\/span>potency of the antibiotic<\/b><\/span><\/span> and the <\/span><\/span>biomass<\/b><\/span><\/span>. The newer antibiotics which are more widely used in <\/span><\/span>human medicine<\/b><\/span><\/span> are more potent and thus <\/span><\/span>require a lower dose<\/b><\/span><\/span> than the older antibiotics commonly used in <\/span><\/span>veterinary medicine<\/b><\/span><\/span>. In other words, one ‘therapeutic dose’ of the newer <\/span><\/span>antibiotics commonly used in human medicine weighs<\/b><\/span><\/span> less<\/b><\/span><\/span> than the equivalent ‘therapeutic dose’ of the older antibiotics commonly used in veterinary medicine. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the <\/span><\/span>dose of an antibiotic<\/b><\/span><\/span> is calculated based on the patient’s <\/span><\/span>body weight<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Therefore, <\/span><\/span>a 650 kg dairy cow would need a much larger dose than an 80 kg person<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Animal numbers also play their part. For instance, although weighing much less, <\/span><\/span>chickens are far more numerous<\/b><\/span><\/span>, with billions of chickens being produced for consumption in the EU every year. Because of this a measurement correcting for population and body weight such as, <\/span><\/span>milligrammes of antibiotic per kilogramme of body weight<\/b><\/span><\/span> (mg\/kg body weight) or mg\/PCU (population correction unit) as used by the EMA is a better measurement of the quantity used.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Less antibiotics for food-producing animals than for humans<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span> <\/i><\/h4>\n

The European Food Safety Authority (<\/span><\/span>EFSA<\/b><\/span><\/span>), the European Medicines Agency (<\/span><\/span>EMA<\/b><\/span><\/span>) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (<\/span><\/span>ECDC<\/b><\/span><\/span>) recently published their fourth joint inter<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u2010<\/span><\/span>agency report<\/span><\/span><\/a> on <\/span><\/span>integrated analysis of data on antimicrobial consumption<\/b><\/span><\/span> and resistance in bacteria from humans and food-producing animals in Europe for 2019-2021. Experts from the three EU agencies state in the report that b<\/span><\/span>etween 2014 and 2021<\/span>, the <\/span><\/span>mean total antimicrobial consumption in mg per kg food-producing animals decreased by 44%, <\/b><\/span><\/span>while in humans, it remained relatively stable. Figure 8 from the report shows the consumption as higher in humans than animals in the EU for a number of years now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The <\/span><\/span>significant fall in antibiotic use in food-producing animals<\/b><\/span><\/span> suggests that the measures taken at the country level to reduce the need to use antibiotics are proving effective. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The report also shows that in food-producing animals, <\/span><\/span>statistically significant reductions<\/b><\/span><\/span> in the consumption of 3rd- and 4th-generation cephalosporins, quinolones, polymyxins, aminopenicillins and tetracyclines were registered during 2014\u20132021 in at least one quarter of countries analysed. This is a positive One Health development, as polymyxins are often used in hospitals to treat patients infected with <\/span><\/span>multidrug-resistant bacteria<\/b><\/span><\/span>, and 3rd- and 4th-generation cephalosporins and quinolones are also on the EMA priority list<\/a> for human health.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the EU, a massive reduction in veterinary antimicrobial use<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In November 2023, the <\/span><\/span>EMA reported a 53% decline between 2011 to 2022<\/b><\/span><\/span>. According to the 2022 European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (<\/span><\/span>ESVAC<\/b><\/span><\/span>) report, the aggregated sales for the 27 EU Member States were 84.8 mg\/PCU, which corresponds to a reduction of 33.5 mg\/PCU (28.3%) in comparison to the 2018 reference value behind the 50% reduction target set in the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. This means Member States have <\/span><\/span>already made significant progress towards the reduction target set for 2030. <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And Europe is not alone in <\/span><\/span>reducing the use of antibiotics in animals<\/b><\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>The 2023 annual report<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals from the World Organisation for Animal Health (<\/span><\/span>WOAH<\/b><\/span><\/span>) confirms that the global use of antimicrobials in animals fell by 13% between 2017 to 2019<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: European Livestock Voice<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We often hear sentences like “Animals consume 70% of all antibiotics” But what does this mean exactly, and is it true?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[805,4789,5760,5764,2812,4033,5759,5765,5763],"class_list":["post-23418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-sustainability-en","tag-antibiotics","tag-antibiotics-for-livestock","tag-antibiotics-in-intensive-farming","tag-consumption-of-antibiotics","tag-european-livestock-voice","tag-intensive-farming-and-antibiotics","tag-livestock-farming-and-antibiotics","tag-plan-for-the-reduction-of-antibiotics","tag-veterinary-antibiotics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t