Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance 2016
This report (UK VARSS) provides the details of UK veterinary antibiotic resistance and sales surveillance.
Documents
Details
The VARSS report 2016 presents veterinary antibiotic sales data in the UK from 2012 to 2016, livestock sectors’ usage data and antimicrobial resistance data for England and Wales from 2014 to 2016.
The supplementary material provides further details including antibiotic resistance data including those from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The VARSS highlights report summarises key facts from the main report.
The VARSS Powerpoint set has been prepared from the VARSS 2017 report of 2016 data on antibiotic sales, antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance. On each slide there is a page number referenced to the main report to enable those using the slides to read full description and analysis of the figures. The Powerpoint set has been made available in downloadable format to allow pick and mix for your presentations on antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic sales data
Veterinary pharmaceutical companies submit data annually to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) on their previous year’s sales of antibiotics authorised for use in animals. The VMD use the data provided to calculate the volume of active antibiotic ingredient within the medicines sold.
Sales data are used as an estimate for antibiotic usage. However, as not all antibiotics sold will be used, sales figures are generally an overestimate. Sales data do not permit more detailed analyses, for example of the consumption of antibiotic by animal species or production class.
Antibiotic usage data
Many antibiotics are authorised for use in multiple species, so it is not possible to determine how much is used per species from sales data alone. The VMD is working in partnership with key livestock sectors to develop, facilitate and coordinate antibiotic usage collection systems.
Antibiotic usage data from meat poultry was presented for the first time in VARSS 2014; and this year the report also includes usage data from the pig, gamebirds, egg and dairy sectors.
Antibiotic usage refers to the amount of antibiotics purchased, prescribed and/or administered. Producers, feed companies and veterinary practice sales records provided the data presented in the VARSS report.
Monitoring of antibiotic resistance
The VMD collates data from government laboratories on antibiotic resistance in bacteria found in samples from animals. This is managed through two programmes: EU Harmonised Monitoring, which is carried out as a legal requirement, and a clinical surveillance programme, which relies on voluntary submission of samples by farmers and veterinary surgeons.
EU Harmonised Monitoring involves the collection of samples from healthy livestock. Samples are tested for the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The bacteria of interest are those which can potentially transfer between animals and man (zoonotic organisms). Specifically, this includes bacteria which are common causes of food poisoning such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli.
The clinical surveillance programme involves the collection of samples from deceased animals that have been submitted to government laboratories by a farmer or veterinary surgeon wanting to determine cause of death. Any bacteria identified, including those which may cause disease in animals (veterinary pathogens), are tested for antibiotic resistance.
Findings from both programmes are reported to the VMD. Monitoring antibiotic resistance allows changes or trends in the level of resistance to be picked up.
Data from these surveillance programmes are also submitted to the European Food Safety authority (EFSA) for inclusion in the annually published European Union Summary Report on Antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals and food in the European Union.
You can find previous reports on the collection page.
Updates to this page
Published 27 October 2017Last updated 29 October 2019 + show all updates
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PowerPoint Presentation corrupted now reloaded
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Corrected 2016 sales data added to PowerPoint sets
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2016 erratum with corrections to sales data published. Watermark added to report and all supporting documents. Please refer to the 2016 erratum and the UK-VARSS 2018 report (when available) for updated sales data.
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Powerpoint slide pack added; Results highlights prepared from the VARSS 2017 report of 2016 data
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Correction made to the text in the Background section regarding the methodology used to interpret resistance data
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First published.