科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
Reports on antimicrobial consumption and occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in veterinary medicine are provided from some countries [5,8,15,4,11]. Consumption figures on antimicrobial agents in Finland are based on wholesalers%26apos; statistics and give a good overall estimate of total drug use in animals. However, this information gives only a rough estimate on how drugs are used in different animal species since several drugs are authorised for a number of species. In addition, these data do not provide any information on the amount of human medicinal products used for veterinary purposes. Earlier studies have shown that the majority of human medicines prescribed for veterinary purposes, especially antimicrobials, are used for companion animals [3,7]. The information on the amount of human medicines used for companion animals is important for making more accurate estimations of total antimicrobial consumption in these species. Studies of indication-based use of antimicrobials in animals are scarce [17,18].In accordance with the European Union rules (directive 2001/82/EEC) the first treatment option should be a veterinary product approved for the particular animal species to be treated. If no such product is available, a veterinary product approved for another animal species should be used. The use of human medicinal products is allowed only if a suitable veterinary product for another animal species does not exist. Because consumer safety is not an issue in the treatment of companion animals 每 as it is in food-producing animals 每 veterinarians can use medicines for companion animals more liberally.This survey was carried out to assess what kind of antimicrobial agents are prescribed via University Pharmacies for treating infections in companion animals in Finland, and how large a proportion of the veterinary antimicrobial prescriptions were human medicinal products. We also investigated the quality of information given on prescriptions, and gathered information from
