I had an interesting discussion yesterday about the “antimicrobial pipeline” as part of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. When we talk about the antimicrobial pipeline, we’re referring to the dwindling number of new antimicrobial drugs that are currently in development. Antimicrobial research and development (R&D) has fallen by the wayside over the
Cat Bite Abscess: Rumple’s Story
My own animals provide frequent fodder for this blog, both good and bad. Rumple’s been featured a few times before, and his latest escapade is a great antimicrobial stewardship case.
Rumple’s an indoor-outdoor cat that we adopted years ago through Guelph Humane Society’s working cat program. He was deemed unsuitable for a household, so we
Antimicrobial Resistance, Animals and a Pandemic Instrument
Being asked to coordinate a paper for the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics wasn’t on my academic bingo card for the year, but like a lot of things in recent years, I’ve come to expect the unexpected. The paper in question is part of a special edition entitled Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance through the Proposed
Do We Need “Animal Only” Antibiotics?
The antibiotic development pipeline is drying up. More companies are abandoning the area because antibiotics are expensive to develop and license, but they are low profit drugs that we try to use as little as possible.
This is a big issue for human medicine, and was the focus of a lot of discussion at this
Fish Antibiotic Diversion
I’ve written (ranted?) about this before – namely the misuse of antimicrobials intended for treatment of aquarium fish in other species. Usually such posts are followed by a deluge of nasty emails along with a bunch of curious requests for links to fish antibiotic sellers (8% kickback available!).
Another sponsorship request came in this morning
Lyme Disease, Antimicrobial Resistance, Pigs and Dogs
How do I link all those? It’s not as big of a stretch as you might think, but it’s definitely getting into some theoretical components.
Dogs are unique from a Lyme disease perspective in that healthy individuals are very commonly tested.
Hundreds of thousands of dogs get tested every year for heartworm, and common heartworm
“Misuse and Overuse of Antibiotics Are a Problem.” Yes, but…
As World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022 winds down, I’ll touch on a statement that I’ve seen a lot over the past week. “We need to reduce misuse and overuse of antibiotics” or “Misuse and overuse of antibiotics are driving antimicrobial resistance (AMR).” Those are great sound bites but largely miss
Canine Pneumovirus Outbreaks: Important or Not? (Plus a Link to Antimicrobial Stewardship)
I’m focusing on antimicrobials this week since it’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, but this is a timely topic and there’s an antimicrobial twist.
A couple of recent reports about a canine pneumovirus outbreak in a shelter in Tacoma WA and a separate outbreak of canine pneumovirus in a shelter in Las Vegas NV have,
Antibiotic vs Antimicrobial: What’s in a Name?
I’ve spent a lot of time in meetings listening to people debating whether to use the word “antibiotic” vs “antimicrobial.” I tend to stay out of those discussions because I don’t care too much either way.
- Yes, they mean somewhat different things.
- Yes, we want to be precise when writing guidance documents where the difference
Veterinary Antimicrobial Use Targets: Do We Need Them?
As we start World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, I’m going to try to write a few posts about various aspects of antimicrobial use and resistance in animals. This first post is a bit long, but it covers an important topic: antimicrobial use targets.
I get asked a lot about whether antimicrobial use targets are need