Dame-Korevaar Anita, Gielen Chretien, van Hout Jobke, Bouwknegt Martijn, Fabà Lluís, Vrieling Manouk
Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Houtribweg 39, Lelystad 8221 RA, the Netherlands.
De Varkenspraktijk, Obrechtstraat 2, Oss 5344 AT, the Netherlands.
Prev Vet Med. 2025 Feb;235:106400. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2024.106400. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
Streptococcus suis is an important pig pathogen that can cause severe disease in the post-weaning period. As there are no commercial vaccines available in the Netherlands, antibiotic treatment is often necessary to control disease. S. suis is regarded as one of the major causes of antibiotic prescription in weaned pigs, but scientific studies supporting this claim with quantitative data are lacking. The aim of this study was to obtain insight in, and to quantify usage of, antibiotics against S. suis in weaner pigs at sow farms in the Netherlands. Three sources of data were used, including 1) total antibiotic usage in weaner pigs in the Netherlands, as yearly reported by the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute (SDa), and estimates from 2) pig veterinarians and 3) pig farmers on the relative amount of antibiotics prescribed against S. suis, via questionnaires. Information from the SDa on the total amount of antibiotic usage was combined with the estimates of the veterinarians to estimate the antibiotic usage against S. suis in weaner pigs. Our study shows that ∼90 % of the total amount of amoxicillin (AMOX) and ampicillin (AMPI) prescribed in weaner pigs is used for treatment of disease caused by S. suis (S. suis disease). Of all orally prescribed antibiotics against S. suis, AMOX comprises 85 % of the total absolute usage expressed by the mean defined daily dosage per animal farm (3.2 - 5.4 mean DDDA). Furthermore, veterinarians reported that at farms with structural S. suis disease problems second choice antibiotics (AMOX, AMPI) are more often prescribed than at farms with incidental S. suis disease. All together, we estimated that S. suis disease accounts for about 1/3rd of the total antibiotic usage in weaner pigs. This study is the first to quantify antibiotic usage against S. suis in weaner pigs and shows that S. suis is a hotspot of antibiotic usage. This underlines the severity and relevance of S. suis disease and the need for alternative control measures.
猪链球菌是一种重要的猪病原体，可在断奶后引起严重疾病。由于荷兰没有商业疫苗，通常需要使用抗生素来控制疾病。猪链球菌被认为是断奶仔猪抗生素处方的主要原因之一，但缺乏支持这一说法的定量数据的科学研究。本研究的目的是了解荷兰母猪场断奶仔猪中针对猪链球菌的抗生素使用情况并进行量化。使用了三种数据来源，包括：1）荷兰兽医药品研究所（SDa）每年报告的荷兰断奶仔猪抗生素总使用量，以及通过问卷调查从2）猪兽医和3）养猪户那里获得的针对猪链球菌的抗生素处方相对量的估计值。将SDa关于抗生素总使用量的信息与兽医的估计值相结合，以估计断奶仔猪中针对猪链球菌的抗生素使用量。我们的研究表明，断奶仔猪中开具的阿莫西林（AMOX）和氨苄青霉素（AMPI）总量的约90%用于治疗由猪链球菌引起的疾病（猪链球菌病）。在所有口服的针对猪链球菌的抗生素中，以每个动物农场的平均限定日剂量表示的AMOX占总绝对使用量的85%（平均DDDA为3.2 - 5.4）。此外，兽医报告称，在存在结构性猪链球菌病问题的农场，第二选择抗生素（AMOX、AMPI）的处方比在偶发性猪链球菌病农场更频繁。总体而言，我们估计猪链球菌病约占断奶仔猪抗生素总使用量的三分之一。本研究首次对断奶仔猪中针对猪链球菌的抗生素使用进行了量化，表明猪链球菌是抗生素使用的热点。这凸显了猪链球菌病的严重性和相关性以及采取替代控制措施的必要性。
