Antibiotics: the importance of prudent use also on dogs and cats

The framework ofantibiotic resistance it’s very serious. And it is so on a global level: after Covid-19 we have another pandemic to face, which is already costing us today over 5 million deaths per year. Infections caused by bacteria that are increasingly stronger and now resistant to the most common antibiotics in use in fact, it advances at the rate of one death every 30 seconds.

I am in Italy more than 11 thousand the indirect victims of the immoderate and incorrect use of antibiotics. So much so that the Ministry of Health and the Italian Medicines Agency have just launched an information campaign to “increase awareness among the population about responsible consumption” and “incentivise best practices to reduce the spread of resistant infections”. According to data obtained from the health card system, it is estimated, explained the minister Orazio Schillaci at a recent dedicated event, that last year three out of ten people have received at least one antibiotic prescription, with higher levels of use in children up to 4 years of age and in people over 75 years old.

A related problem is that in the sector veterinarian. Just as among humans, even in dogs, cats and other animals, the incorrect use of antibiotics can, in fact, favor the onset of dangerous resistance phenomena, which can reduce the effectiveness of the medicine, threatening the patient’s health. Also AniCuraa European network of veterinary hospitals and clinics, therefore adheres to the principles of the World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (World AMR Awareness Weekrunning until November 24), aware of theinterconnection between the health of humans and pets. The goal of the global campaign against antibiotic resistance is to achieve, by 2030, do not administer systemic antibiotics to more than 5% of patients under treatment.

Antibiotics: 7 rules for using them without errors

7 Images

Of Silvia Finazzi

Look at the gallery

«As AniCura we are committed on a daily basis to ensuring the prudent use of antibiotics in all 15 European markets in which we operate. With 4.5 million veterinary visits carried out every year, we are confident that our activities can have an extremely significant impact” explains Stefano Caporali, CEO of AniCura Italy Holding. «The risks deriving from the incorrect use of antibiotics are an issue that we have been addressing and measuring for several years through our QualiCura quality program, and for 2024 we have set ourselves the ambitious objective of systematically monitoring the use of treatments antibiotics and reduce them significantly.”

Pioneers in the context of veterinary care, already in 2021 the AniCura group had launched precise guidelines regarding the most common uses of systemic antibiotics. The eight most common indications for systemic antibiotic use are surgical antibiotic prophylaxisthe infections
of wounds and abscessesi gastrointestinal disordersthe skin infectionsthe urinary tract infectionsthe dental procedures and the lower and upper respiratory diseases. In any other area, use should be limited or in any case evaluated very scrupulously.

Antibiotics: 7 rules for using them without errors

What happens in the body if you stop taking the antibiotic earlier than expected