In figures published this week by European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC), sales of antimicrobial veterinary medicinal products dropped by 32.5% between 2011 and 2017.
According to the report, explanations provided by some countries for the decline in sales include the implementation of responsible use campaigns, restrictions on use, increased awareness of the threat of antimicrobial resistance, and setting antimicrobial sales or use reduction targets or changes in animal demographics. It added that reduced sales of veterinary antimicrobials in some countries indicate the potential for a reduction in other countries.
The study did note a large gap between sales for 2017 between the countries with the highest and lowest sales, ranging from 3.1 mg/PCU in Norway to 423.1 mg/PCU in Cyprus. It said that variations in reported sales (mg/PCU) and in sales patterns for 2017 between the 31 countries waslikely to be due in part to differences in the composition of the animal population and in the production systems in various countries.
It said: “Considerable variations also exist in terms of daily dose used for the various antimicrobial agents and the various pharmaceutical forms, as well as in terms of duration of treatment. In addition, differences in the selection of sales-data providers among countries may have an impact, although such an impact is thought to be minor. However, since these factors can only partly explain the differences in sales observed among the 31 countries, other factors must also be considered.”