Antibiotic Awareness Week November 18-24

November 17, 2021 — Abbey Canon

AASV is pleased to participate in World Antibiotic Awareness Week November 18-24, 2021. World Antibiotic Awareness Week is a global initiative to raise awareness of the health risks of antibiotic resistance to humans, animals, and the environment and to encourage best practices among healthcare providers, policy makers, and the public to limit the emergence or spread of resistant bacteria. Slowing the development of resistance and preserving safe and effective antimicrobials for use in animals and humans are priorities for swine veterinarians.

In addition to identifying resources that increase the knowledge of veterinarians and promote the health and well-being of the pigs we care for, the AASV also advocates for science-based approaches to veterinary, industry, and public health issues, including antimicrobial resistance.

For example, the AASV Pharmaceutical Issues Committee closely monitors and guides AASV's response to proposed policies and activities that may affect swine health or veterinary practice through the use or availability of antimicrobials.

• With input from the Pharmaceutical Issues Committee, the AASV submitted comments in response to FDA's concept paper on the Potential Approach for Ranking of Antimicrobial Drugs According to Their Importance in Human Medicine. The AASV encouraged the FDA to consider the impact to animals as well as humans when discussing medical importance of FDA approved drugs.
• The Pharmaceutical Issues Committee and AASV also responded to FDA's concept paper on the Potential Approach for Defining Durations of Use for Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs Intended for Use In or On Feed. AASV described the significant impact this guidance would have on swine veterinarians' ability to practice veterinary medicine and protect the health and welfare of the animals under our care if accepted in the concept paper's current format.
• The Pharmaceutical Issues Committee is closely monitoring the actions taken in the European Union that will affect swine practitioners in the United States.

In 1999, the AASV, an early leader in developing guidelines for the judicious use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine, published the first Basic Guidelines of Judicious Therapeutic Use of Antimicrobials in Pork Production. Following earlier revisions in 2004 and 2014, the Pharmaceutical Issues Committee again reevaluated and revised those guidelines during 2020. You can find the 2020 revised guidelines at aasv.org/documents/JUG.

In 2019, the AASV made a commitment to the Antimicrobial Resistance Challenge, a yearlong international effort to accelerate the fight against antimicrobial resistance. At that time, AASV pledged to continue providing swine veterinarians the resources, information, and knowledge they need to use antimicrobials judiciously and promote stewardship among producers, which includes veterinary oversight, use data collection, and disease prevention. Read more about AASV's 2019 commitment at CDC's AMR Challenge.

Read more about the AASV's activities surrounding antimicrobial stewardship at aasv.org/shap/issues/v28n6/v28n6advocacy.

Join the AASV in promoting Antibiotic Awareness Week and engage your practice and clients by

• sharing stories and activities you do as a veterinarian to promote stewardship;
• following and reposting social media messages from the AASV, the National Pork Board, and the National Pork Producers Council;
• tagging social media posts with #USAAW21 #WAAW21 #BeAntibioticsAware;
• including articles about antibiotic use and resistance in your newsletters;
• holding dialogues about antimicrobial use and resistance with other stakeholders; and
• joining an AASV committee.

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Abbey Canon is the AASV Director of Public Health and Communications