189 Perceptions of antimicrobial usage antimicrobial resistance and policy measures to reduce antimicrobial usage (Research paper – Visschers, 2015)

189 Research paper – Visschers – 2015 – Perceptions of antimicrobial usage antimicrobial resistance and policy measures to reduce antimicrobial usage

In Significant Impact Groups: Prudent use AB \ Farmer; AMU reduction strategies
Species targeted: Pigs;
Age: Young; Adult;
Summary:
A survey of pig farmers (N = 281) was performed in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Generally, farmers perceived their own antimicrobial usage as lower than that of their fellow countrymen and lower than or similar to that of farmers from other countries. Farmers were significantly more worried about financial/legal issues than about antimicrobial resistance. Further, farmers who worried about antimicrobial resistance and estimated their antimicrobial usage as lower than their fellow countrymen, perceived more impact from policy measures on antimicrobial reduction. Results indicated that the same policy measures can be applied to reduce antimicrobial usage in pig farming in all five countries. Moreover, increasing pig farmers’ awareness of the threat of antimicrobial resistance and its relation to antimicrobial usage is worth investing into; not only because pig farmers were not worried about antimicrobial usage but also because it affected farmers’ perception of policy measures to reduce antimicrobial usage.

Where to find the original material: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25684036; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2015.01.018
Country: SE; CH; BE; DE; FR