Antibiotic resistance should be on companion animal DVMs' radar

Pullman, Wash.-Antibiotic resistance should be on companion animal practitioners' radar, especially considering human literature citing companion animals as a source of resistant bacteria.

Katrina Mealey, DVM, Ph.D., dipl. ACVIM, DACVCP, of Washington StateUniversity (WSU), explains, "There are a lot of publications comingout in the human literature about veterinary patients as a source of resistantbacteria for people. I think we are way behind in trying to see if it isreally a problem."

Mealey, who speaks nationally on the subject, says that since so muchattention is being given to antibiotic resistance on the human side, itis in veterinary medicine's best interests to try to disprove links thatcompanion animals can be a reservoir to resistant bacteria.

"In some of the publications out there, the conclusions they aretrying to make from these associations are pretty overstated. As small animalveterinarians, we have already been put on the defensive," Mealey says.

With that said, Mealey adds that it is very important for practitionersto use antibiotics judiciously and prudently. She advises more laboratorytesting to identify the bacteria they are fighting, and that in turn willhelp practitioners make the right antibiotic choice.

"I think many veterinarians treat broad spectrum to make sure theyare covering their bases. If the patient isn't severely ill, I am sayingmaybe we should wait a little longer to find out what that bacterial agentis and use the more important narrow-spectrum antibiotic," Mealey explains.

Mealey adds that more scientific literature will likely be focused onantibiotic resistance.

In fact, work has just begun at WSU to investigate antibiotic resistancein intensive care unit (ICU) patients. She says, the research is in sucha preliminary stages that the university does not have data yet.

"Our big question, in our ICU anyway, is do we see resistance fromspread or does it happen because we give antibiotics to these particularpatients?" Mealey asks.