The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have designated this week as “Get Smart About Antibiotics Week” for the human medical community and consumerss. What a great time to dovetail prudent-use messages about antibiotic use in livestock along with the consumer message.
The CDC says this year's observance, Nov. 14-20, will celebrate the significant reduction achieved in inappropriate antibiotic use for certain acute respiratory infections among children aged ≤14 years from 1993 to 2008. Appropriate antibiotic use is a key strategy to prevent antibiotic resistance and preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics.
CDC is assisting partners in continuing to promote appropriate antibiotic use in inpatient and outpatient settings. Improving antibiotic selection and use has many important benefits, including better infection cure rates, fewer side effects, and reduced antibiotic resistance. Read more about these efforts in the human medical community here.
Livestock efforts
This is also a good time to remind your beef and dairy clients about proper and prudent use of antibiotics in livestock. A host of information sources on antibiotic use including BQA principles and residue/resistance avoidance are available from many sources. Some of these sources include:
- American Association of Bovine Practitioners Prudent Drug Usage for Cattle
- American Veterinary Medical Association Judicious Use of Antimicrobials for Dairy Cattle Veterinarians
- American Veterinary Medical Association Judicious Use of Antimicrobials for Beef Cattle Veterinarians
- AVMA brochure on Extralable Drug Use
- Food Animal Residue Avoidance and Depletion Program (FARAD)
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