2017 Antibiotic sales analysis

The Ministry for Primary Industries released their Antibiotic Sales Analysis 2017 in November.
It shows a significant decrease in some of the critically important antibiotics which we feel represents improvements in overall stewardship by veterinarians.
For example sales movement between 2012/13 and 2017:

• Sales of fluoroquinolones had an overall reduction in sales by 18%
• Cephalosporin sales showed a 40% reduction
• The quantity of macrolides/lincosamides sold have reduced by 24%

There has been however an overall increase in antimicrobial sales by weight for 2017 compared to the previous year.
For example:

• Overall antibiotic use - Increased by 3%
• Dry Cow Therapy treatments - Increased by 14%
• Lactating cow treatments - Increased by 16%

This is now quite old data and we hope that usage has reduced since 2017 with increasing awareness of antimicrobial resistance. However, it is a timely reminder of the continuing threat of antimicrobial resistance. The new Veterinary Medicines section of the Code of Professional Conduct comes into force on 1 January and has a section devoted to antibiotic use.