- Print Friendly - Help

Use of antibiotics as veterinary medicines changing

Statistics collected by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority for the 2001 calendar year show that the use of antibiotics as veterinary medicines is changing, with what appears to be a move away from those that are deemed important to human medicine.

While overall sales of antibiotics increased during 2001, there has been a noticeable trend away from the use of such drugs as tetracyclines and macrolides to others that have been assessed by the Ministry of Health as not relevant to the potential antibiotic resistance problem.

There were no reported sales of prescription antibiotics for growth promotion purposes during the year.

Pharmaceutical companies have voluntarily provided sales statistics to NZFSA for the past two years.

The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Group has been refining its regulatory control on antibiotics as veterinary medicines in response to the recommendations of the Antibiotic Resistance Steering Group. The changes have been made to minimise the likelihood that the use of antibiotics in animals may contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens - bacteria causing disease in humans.

These changes have included the prohibition on using certain antibiotics of concern for growth promotion; the introduction of the stratified prescription animal remedy classification for antibiotics and the mandatory requirements to provide calendarised annual sales of antibiotics.

The effects of these changes won't show up until statistics for 2002 have been collected and analysed early next year.

There have also been other initiatives to minimise antibiotic resistance. The ACVM Group is currently considering a code of practice lodged by the New Zealand Veterinary Association. This Code will give statutory recognition of standards for veterinary prescription writing that are equivalent to those that must be met by medical practitioners when writing prescriptions. This Code will ensure the antibiotics are prescribed in a professional and consistent manner.