The Use of Antimicrobials in Italian Heavy Pig Fattening Farms

Abstract

Data on antimicrobial use (AMU) in heavy pig production (>150 kg) are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the AMU in this production. Data from 2015 were collected for 143 fattening farms. The AMU was estimated through a treatment index per 100 days (TI100) using the defined daily dose animal for Italy (DDDAit). When possible, a comparison with the European Medicines Agency’s defined daily doses for animals (DDDvet) was performed. The median TI100 was 10.7 (range, 0.2–49.5). Group treatments represented 94.6% of overall consumption. The AMU calculated using DDDAit and DDDvet were strongly correlated (ρ = 0.976; p < 0.001). The AMU was negatively correlated with injectables use (ρ = −0.46, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with oral products (ρ = 0.21, p = 0.014), premixes (ρ = 0.26, p = 0.002), and mortality (ρ = 0.18; p = 0.027). Farm size was negatively correlated with AMU (ρ = −0.29, p < 0.001). Smaller farms were more frequently above the median TI100 (odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval = 1.2–4.7), suggesting that they may have lower biosecurity and management standards. The results of this study should provide useful insights for the development of an Italian monitoring system.

Risk Factors for Antimicrobial Use on Irish Pig Farms

“…Finisher mortality is impacted by a variety of factors, including management, environment and infectious disease [70,71], and in this study, each additional 1% increase in mortality was associated with 33% higher AMU. This association has been previously demonstrated for the use of in-feed medication in Spain and the UK [26,72] and for AMU on heavy pig-fattening farms in Italy [73]. Farms with higher finisher mortality were also more likely to use oral potentiated sulphonamides or macrolides.…”

ESBL/AmpC-Producing Escherichia coli in Wild Boar: Epidemiology and Risk Factors

“…A possible explanation for the differences in prevalence recorded between our study and the previous ones could be related to a higher AMR environmental contamination of our study area. Indeed, all samples were collected in an area with a high density of farms, and Italy is one of the largest consumers of veterinary antimicrobials in Europe [34], even in age groups such as finisher pigs, where the use of antimicrobials should be low [35]. In this regard, the intrinsic characteristics of the wild boar's diet, an opportunistic omnivore that can change its diet drastically depending on the availability of food, should also be taken into account.…”

The Relationship between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Dairy Farms

“…This metric was established during the development of the ClassyFarm system. The DDDAit has already been described in detail in previous studies on beef [ 33 ] and pig [ 34 ] farms. Briefly, a DDDAit of an antimicrobial medicinal product (oral or injectable) represents the amount of active ingredient, in milligrams, that should be administered per kg of live weight for each day of treatment, according to the summary of the product characteristic (SPC).…”