Antibiotic Use in Broiler Poultry Farms in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal: Which Antibiotics and Why?

Abstract

Inappropriate antibiotic use in food-producing animals is associated with the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. In industrial broiler poultry farms in three districts of Kathmandu valley, Nepal, we assessed antibiotic use prevalence, and their classes, types, and quantities. A cross-sectional questionnaire study involving field visits to large poultry farms (flock size ≥ 3000) of the Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur districts was conducted. Of 30 farms (total flock size 104,200; range 3000–6000), prevalence of antibiotic use was 90% (95% CI: 73–98%). Six (22%) farms used antibiotics as prophylaxis, while 21 (78%) used it for therapeutics. Seven antibiotics from six classes (including quinolones, macrolides, and polymyxins) were used. The most commonly used antibiotics were tylosin (47%), colistin (47%), and dual therapies with neomycin and doxycycline (33%). A total of 50,000 grams of antibiotics (total weight including active and inactive ingredients) were used (0.5 grams/chicken/45 days of flock life) with eight (26%) farms using more than two antibiotics. No farms had records on clinical indications for prophylaxis or treatment. No post-mortem records of sick birds were available. Prevalence of antibiotic use in broiler farms of Kathmandu valley is high and includes “highest priority critically important antibiotics” for human use, with direct implications on public health.

Antimicrobial Usage in Commercial and Domestic Poultry Farming in Two Communities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

“…The strikingly high frequencies of antimicrobial usage shown in the current study could be due to knowledge differences in study populations and a generally increasing availability of antimicrobials. Also, almost all (97.0%) of the commercial poultry farms used antimicrobials, which is in agreement with studies conducted in Bangladesh (98%) [17], Nepal (90%) [18] and Nigeria (89%) [19]. The high prevalence of AMU could be attributed to administering antimicrobials for prophylaxis and growth promotion purposes.…”

Antibiotic usage practices and its drivers in commercial chicken production in Bangladesh

“…It has been reported that 54%-100% of broiler and layer farms administer antibiotics from the start of the production cycle to the day they were surveyed [ 15 , 21 , 22 ]. Antibiotic usage in commercial poultry in many low- and middle-income countries including Sudan, Tanzania, Vietnam, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon varied from 44–100%, either at the time of farm visits or during the chicken production cycle [ 5 – 7 , 23 – 28 ]. For comparison, the proportion of broiler chicken farms using antimicrobials was 26% on day 1 and 49% within the first week of production in nine European countries [ 29 ].…”

Potential Feed Additives as Antibiotic Alternatives in Broiler Production

“…Although antimicrobial consumption in livestock has received little attention, an expert opinion suggests that global consumption of antimicrobials in animals is twice more than in humans (4,35). In many countries, most commercial broiler producers have reported antibiotic use, i.e., in Ghana (97%) (16), Nepal (90%) (36), Nigeria (89%) (37), Bangladesh (98%) (38), and the United States (40%) (39). Broiler farm intensification could be a driving force for the use of antibiotics as feed additives in developed countries, whereas increasing demand for poultry meat and eggs for food security could be a factor in the developing world and may lead to the risk of developing antibiotic-resistant microbes (40)(41)(42)(43).…”