title: Influence of porcine circovirus type 2 vaccination on the level of antimicrobial consumption on 65 Austrian pig farms.
abstract: The administration of antibiotics to farm animals is an important contemporary topic. Veterinarians, pig producers, politicians, retailers and consumers all have a vested interest in reducing antimicrobial use on farm, while ensuring adequate health and welfare of food-producing animals. Vaccination programmes may be used to reduce the overall level of clinical disease in a population, subsequently leading to a decline in antimicrobial use. In 2008, a vaccination programme against porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2) was initiated in Austria. In the retrospective observational study presented here, farm medication records (2008-2011) from 65 conventional pig farms were evaluated. As PCV-2 has been shown to lead to generalised immunosuppression, enabling secondary bacterial infections to occur, the authors hypothesised that PCV-2 vaccination would decrease antimicrobial consumption at farm level. Firstly, we focused on the annual antimicrobial consumption expressed as the number of administered animal daily doses per kg liveweight (nADDkg/kg/year). Secondly, a linear mixed effects model was applied to evaluate the influence of PCV-2 vaccination on the antimicrobial consumption at farm level. The interaction between farm type and PCV-2 vaccination was found to be a highly significant factor (P=0.0002) influencing antimicrobial use at farm level. The estimated impact of PCV-2 vaccination revealed a highly significant (P<0.001) decline in total antimicrobial drug use from 1.72 ADDkg/kg/year to 0.56 ADDkg/kg/year on finishing farms, whereas only a negligible decline was detectable on farrow-to-finish farms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna A-1210, Austria.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raith
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna A-1210, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trauffler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna A-1210, Austria.
authors.forename: C L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4919-7786
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Firth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna A-1210, Austria.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lebl
authors.affiliation: Division for Data, Statistics and Risk Assessment, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Zinzendorfgasse 27/1, Graz A-8010, Austria.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schleicher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna A-1210, Austria.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Köfer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001317:Austria; D018173:Circoviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D000072480:Farms; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014765:Viral Vaccines
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: animal daily dose; antimicrobial consumption; pig health; porcine circovirus type 2; vaccination