Antimicrobial Use Data Collection in the U.S. Poultry Production System - Project Summary/Abstract Antimicrobial use (AMU) is the primary selective force behind the emergence of resistant bacteria. Improving antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in human and animal health is essential for maintaining the effectiveness of available antimicrobials and is an essential component of efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance. Most AMU data that are being collected globally are in the form of antimicrobial sales volumes; most countries do not currently have systems in place to collect nationally representative AMU datasets on-farm. Without any knowledge of the incidence of disease in specific herds or flocks nor the intended use of the antimicrobials included in the sales data, it is not clear how national antimicrobial sales data alone are useful in assisting with AMS activities. Systems must be developed for collecting on-farm AMU data. These data should include the principal indications for use and details about administration (dose, route, duration, age of animals) of specific antimicrobial compounds, and ideally, would also collect information on therapeutic outcomes. This proposed project will focus on expanding an ongoing, nationally representative, and sustainable system for collecting on- farm quantitative AMU data in the broiler chicken, turkey, and table egg industries of the U.S. This program functions as a public-private partnership and currently collects data from approximately 85% of annual broiler production, 70% of annual turkey production, and 50% of table egg production in the U.S. This proposed project will expand the current effort but also includes several additional objectives. First, a multi-disciplinary Expert Working Group will continue to evaluate metrics for analyzing, reporting and summarizing the data. This working group will also explore several key data gaps that we have identified during our 10-year collection of U.S. poultry data. These data gaps include 1) methods for estimating the background incidence of key bacterial diseases in the U.S. poultry industry, 2) methods for evaluating health and production outcomes following antimicrobial therapy in poultry, 3) approaches for standardizing the disease definitions recorded by veterinarians, and 4) methods for linking antimicrobial prescriptions given to the same flock so that the regimens can be linked. This project addresses all of the key characteristics, as identified by FDA-CVM in the RFA, that are needed in a sustainable and representative system for collecting on-farm antimicrobial use data. The AMU data collection system for the poultry industry of the U.S., which already functions as a public-private partnership and can serve as a model for other food animal sectors.
