Association between Antibiotic Consumption and Resistance in Mink Production

• Published in: Antibiotics
• Main Authors: Nanett Kvist Nikolaisen, Mette Fertner, Desiree Corvera Kløve Lassen, Chaza Nazih Chehabi, Amir Atabak Ronaghinia, Mariann Chriél, Vibeke Frøkjær Jensen, Lars Bogø Jensen, Karl Pedersen, Tina Struve
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: antibiotic resistance; antibiotic consumption; Staphylococcus delphini; Escherichia coli; epidemiology; Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RM1-950; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11070927; https://doaj.org/article/065e4040edd342a1ac16744a6a4cf308

Antibiotic consumption is considered to be a main driver of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Mink breeding follows a distinctive seasonal reproduction cycle, and all of the mink produced in the northern hemisphere are bred, born, and pelted around the same time of year. Some of the diseases are age-related, which is reflected in the seasonal variation of antibiotic consumption. The seasonality makes mink a good model for the investigation of the association between antibiotic consumption and resistance. The objectives of this study were (1) to monitor the farm level of antibiotic resistance during one production cycle and (2) to assess the potential associations between antibiotic consumption and resistance. Twenty-four farms were included in this study (Denmark n = 20, Iceland n = 2, and The Netherlands n = 2), following a cohort of animals born in 2018. Staphylococcus delphini and Escherichia coli were isolated from samples of the carcasses and faeces and were collected randomly. The isolates were susceptibility tested and subsequently divided into the sensitive wildtype (WT) and the resistant non-wildtype (NWT) populations. The antibiotic consumption relative to the sampling periods was assessed as having a short-term or a long-term impact, i.e., in two explanatory factors. For both S. delphini and E. coli , a large between-farm variation of NWT profiles was detected. In the final multivariable, generalized linear mixed models, significant associations between NWT isolates and the consumption of specific antibiotics were found: the short-term use of tetracyclines in the growth period was associated with the occurrence of tetracycline NWT E. coli in the growth period (OR: 11.94 [1.78; 89.28]), and the long-term use of macrolide and tetracyclines was associated with the occurrence of erythromycin NWT S. delphini in the weaning period (OR: 18.2 [2.26; 321.36]) and tetracycline NWT S. delphini in the growth period (OR: 8.2 [1.27; 63.31]), respectively. Farms with zero consumption in the study years prior to ...