PHOTO: POULTRY WORLD


The main issues found on farms in this post-antimicrobial environment are deal- ing with issues relating to chick quality, leg health and a further 10% is some form of enteric disorder.


Mr Parker says improving chick quality is a task for the entire supply chain, and gains are to be made in ensuring the highest quality control from the breeder farm right through to hatch. “Finally, when your chicks hatch they must be grad- ed and remove those that should not be delivered to farm.” The leg issues tend to arise at around the first two weeks, and once an infection is established, it is difficult to treat. “The problem is that they are quite low grade, but they start to present in the mid-to-late teens, and often they are non-re- sponsive, or poorly responsive to antibiotic therapy at that stage. “The blood supply isn’t sufficient to actually get a kill on these bacteria. So we see ongoing culling.”


Further work The BPC stewardship group is continuing to work on its best practice, but Mr Parker feels it may have reached close to the limits of reduction, explaining that he expects use to perhaps increase slightly before levelling off. But work is ongoing. Data collection will continue to be improved, and detection is also a focus. “We want to look at better more rapid testing methods for antimicrobial sensitivity but also the overall gut in terms of diagnostics. If we have a viral infection for exam- ple, we don’t want to treat that with antibiotics – having im- proved diagnostics therefore would be helpful.” Daniel Parker was speaking at the Society of Feed Technologists’ poultry conference.


Total systemic antibiotics prescribed in humans from primary and secondary care and quantity of antibiotics sold for use in food-producing animals in the UK, expressed in tonnes active ingredient and percentage of the total.


Antibiotic group Penicillins


Tetracyclines Macrolides


Trimethoprim/sulphonamides


1st and 2nd generation cephalosporins Fluoroquinolones


Other antibacterials*¥


3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins Monobactams, carbapenems‡ Lincosamides Glycopeptides‡ Aminoglycosides


Polymyxins (incl. colistin) Amphenicols


Other quinolones‡


Antibiotics prescribed in humans (tonnes (%)) 2013 2017 339.1 (65) 54.6 (10) 54.5 (10) 24.0 (5) 17.4 (3) 12.1 (2) 7.9 (2)


330.2 (67) 48.2 (10) 43.5 (9) 17.4 (4) 13.3 (3) 12.0 (2) 10.4 (2)


3.4 (0.7) 3.4 (0.7) 2.3 (0.4) 1.4 (0.3) 0.9 (0.2) 0.4 (0.1) 0.1 (0) 0.0 (0)


4.5 (0.9) 4.0 (0.8) 3.1 (0.6) 1.9 (0.4) 0.8 (0.2) 0.6 (0.1) 0.1 (0) 0.0 (0)


Antibiotics sold for use in animals (tonnes (%)) 2013 2017 87.5 (20)


194 (44) 40.3 (9) 60.7 (14) 4.9 (1)


2.6 (0.6) 20.4 (5)


1.2 (0.3) 0 (0)


6.2 (1) 0 (0)


14.8 (3)


0.7 (0.2) 2.6 (0.6) 0 (0)


▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 2, 2019


72.5 (26) 104.9 (37) 23.3 (8) 31.0 (11) 4.1 (1)


1.3 (0.5) 13.7 (5)


0.9 (0.3) 0 (0)


3.3 (1) 0 (0)


21.6 (8)


0.007 (0) 4.9 (2) 0 (0)


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