A review of animal health and drug use practices in India, and their possible link to antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

Background: Livestock production, particularly the dairy sector, is important for food and nutritional wellbeing of communities in India, it supports livelihoods of many farmers, and contributes to the economy of the country. India is a high consumer of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria are a major public health concern. Objectives: Our objectives were to identify animal health and drug use practices that may contribute to emergence and spread of AMR in the country, review previous AMR-mitigation strategies, and discuss "theory of change" as an approach to informing the choice of interventions. Methods: We undertook a desk review of literature to identify practices with potential to contribute to emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance in India. Searches were done in PubMed, Google scholar, and Google. Data were synthesized and discussed by themes. Results: Animal disease surveillance is less developed and infrastructure to support delivery of services is inadequate. Several groups are known to offer animal health services. The untrained "animal health workers" and para-veterinarians are more popular with farmers as they charge less for consultations (compared to veterinarians who are few and charge more). Over-the-counter access of antibiotics, without prescription, and direct marketing of drugs to farmers are common. Because of this, farmers are able to treat their animals and only consult when cases become non-responsive to treatment. Antibiotics are mostly used in management of mastitis cases. Drug withdrawal periods are rarely observed and occurrence of antibiotic-contaminated milk has been reported. Awareness on AMR is low and antimicrobial stewardship in livestock is yet to be developed. Initiatives such as the National programme for containment of AMR, National Action Plan on AMR, and the National Health policy point to government's commitment in addressing the problem of AMR in the country. Conclusion: Several animal health and drug use practices, with potential to cause AMR, have been described, and their contribution can be discussed further by engaging stakeholders in a "theory of change" exercise. Interventions that address AMR from the animal health perspective should be promoted, and incentives to increase their adoption explored.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) Survey among Veterinarians, and Risk Factors Relating to Antimicrobial Use and Treatment Failure in Dairy Herds of India

“…There are limited studies from India on antibiotic usage patterns for various conditions in animal husbandry [ 12 ]. The present study listed major disease conditions of bovines requiring antibiotic usage.…”

“…Moreover, 98.7% veterinarians believed that antibiotic resistance was a serious public health issue, in similar line with the previous studies [ 35 , 36 ]. In addition, earlier studies also have reported a large number of untrained personnel (quacks) in veterinary practice in India, which might be due to unaffordable professional veterinary services for marginalized farmers [ 12 , 30 , 37 ].…”

“…The threat of antibiotic resistance from the foods of animal origin has been discussed in many recent studies in India, highlighting the need for the judicious use of antibiotics in the animal health sector of the country [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Albeit, a “National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance” has been enforced for optimizing antibiotic use in the country, strict enforcement still needs to be executed at the ground level [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

De acordo com o governador, a decisão vale para todos que estejam em condições físicas adequadas, mesmo os que ainda não tomaram a vacina contra a Covid-19

“…However, it occurs at a time when the human and veterinary pharmaceutical industry, farmers, and researchers seek solutions to the serious issue of antimicrobial resistance (Collignon & McEwen, 2019;Iannino et al, 2019). The reasons for this cooperation are the rapid expansion of resistance associated with the globalization of trade, a decrease in therapeutic options to combat it, an increase in productive-reproductive losses because of high morbidity and mortality, and the possibility of transferring resistant microorganisms of animal origin to humans (Astorga et al, 2019;Feiyang et al, 2019;Mutua et al, 2020;Van Boeckel et al, 2019).…”

“…Currently, there is considerable interest in herbal products despite the availability of multiple synthetic chemicals intended for veterinary use (Martínez & Jiménez, 2017). Several factors explain this, including the search for alternative, effective, and economical solutions to unresolved global health problems such as microbial resistance; the promotion of rural development along with its biocultural heritage (Aziz et al, 2018a;Mutua et al, 2020;Suroowan et al, 2017); and the similarities between veterinary and human ethnomedicine (Miara et al, 2019). Regardless of the reasons, the use of plant-based veterinary products as a therapeutic complement, or even as the only available option, has recently acquired tremendous importance in terms of animal welfare (Feyera et al, 2017;Lans, 2019;Sharma & Manhas, 2015;Yigezu et al, 2014).…”