Research

Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens isolated from cattle in different European countries: 2002–2004

Rene S Hendriksen¹ , Dik J Mevius² , Andreas Schroeter³ , Christopher Teale⁴ , Danièle Meunier⁵ , Patrick Butaye⁶ , Alessia Franco⁷ , Andra Utinane⁸ , Alice Amado⁹ , Miguel Moreno¹⁰ , Christina Greko¹¹ , Katharina Stärk¹² , Christian Berghold¹³ , Anna-Liisa Myllyniemi¹⁴ , Dariusz Wasyl¹⁵ , Marianne Sunde¹⁶ and Frank M Aarestrup¹

¹  National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Bülowsvej 27, DK-1790, Copenhagen V, Denmark

²  Central Institute for Animal Disease Control, PO Box 2004, Edelhertweg 15, 8203, Lelystad, The Netherlands

³  Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Postfach 330013, Diedersdorferweg 1, 14191, Berlin, Germany

⁴  Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Kendal Road, Harlescott, SY1 4HD, Shrewsbury, UK

⁵  Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, Lyon LERPBV, 31 avenue Tony Garnier, 69000, Lyon, Cedex 07, France

⁶  Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Groeselenberg 99, B-1180, Ukkel, Belgium

⁷  Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Roma, Italy

⁸  State Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Centre of Food and Veterinary Service, Lejupes 3, 1076, Riga, Latvia

⁹  Laboratorio National de Investigacáo Veterinaria, Estrada de Benfica 701, 1549-011, Lisboa, Portugal

¹⁰  Complutense University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

¹¹  National Veterinary Institute, Travv. 20, 75189, Uppsala, Sweden

¹²  Bundesamt für Veterinärwesen, Schwarzenburgstrasse 161, 3003, Bern, Switzerland

¹³  Agency for Health and Food Safety, Beethovenstrasse 6, A-8010, Graz, Austria

¹⁴  Finnish Food Safety Authority, PO Box 45, Hameentie 57, 00581, Helsinki, Finland

¹⁵  National Veterinary Research Institute, Partyzantow 57, 24-100, Pulawy, Poland

¹⁶  National Veterinary Institute, PO Box 8156 Dep, Ullevaalsveien 68, 0033, Oslo, Norway

author email corresponding author email

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2008, 50:28doi:10.1186/1751-0147-50-28

Published:	8 July 2008

Abstract

Background

The project "Antibiotic resistance in bacteria of animal origin – II" (ARBAO-II) was funded by the European Union (FAIR5-QLK2-2002-01146) for the period 2003–2005, with the aim to establish a continuous monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility among veterinary laboratories in European countries based on validated and harmonised methodologies. Available summary data of the susceptibility testing of the bacterial pathogens from the different laboratories were collected.

Method

Antimicrobial susceptibility data for several bovine pathogens were obtained over a three year period (2002–2004). Each year the participating laboratories were requested to fill in excel-file templates with national summary data on the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance from different bacterial species.

A proficiency test (EQAS – external quality assurance system) for antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted each year to test the accuracy of antimicrobial susceptibility testing in the participating laboratories. The data from this testing demonstrated that for the species included in the EQAS the results are comparable between countries.

Results

Data from 25,241 isolates were collected from 13 European countries. For Staphylococcus aureus from bovine mastitis major differences were apparent in the occurrence of resistance between countries and between the different antimicrobial agents tested. The highest frequency of resistance was observed for penicillin. For Mannheimia haemolytica resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulphonamide were observed in France, the Netherlands and Portugal. All isolates of Pasteurella multocida isolated in Finland and most of those from Denmark, England (and Wales), Italy and Sweden were susceptible to the majority of the antimicrobials. Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus uberis isolates from Sweden were fully susceptible. For the other countries some resistance was observed to tetracycline, gentamicin and erythromycin. More resistance and variation of the resistance levels between countries were observed for Escherichia coli compared to the other bacterial species investigated.

Conclusion

In general, isolates from Denmark, England (and Wales), the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland showed low frequencies of resistance, whereas many isolates from Belgium, France, Italy, Latvia and Spain were resistant to most antimicrobials tested. In the future, data on the prevalence of resistance should be used to develop guidelines for appropriate antimicrobial use in veterinary medicine.