AUTHOR=Villanueva-Cabezas Juan Pablo , Rinzin Karma , Dorjee Sithar , Tshewang Pema , Namgyel Ugyen , Sharma Puspa Maya , Stevenson Mark A. , McVernon Jodie TITLE=Antibiotic Prescription in Veterinary Consultations in Bhutan: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.641488 DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.641488 ISSN=2297-1769 ABSTRACT=
The veterinary prescription of antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) remains largely undocumented. In Bhutan, however, the national veterinary service keeps records of their activities and prescriptions, which offer an opportunity to establish a benchmark to assess the use of these agents in this and other LMIC. A cross-sectional retrospective study was designed and 2,266 handwritten veterinary records from 2017 were sampled from 23 animal health premises (AHPs) to estimate individual and an overall proportion of consultations that resulted in an antibiotic prescription. The frequency of antibiotic prescription per species, type of AHP, and according to WHO's AWaRe index and OIE list of priority antimicrobials were also explored. It was estimated that 31% (95% confidence interval: 29–33%; intracluster correlation: 0.03) of the veterinary consultations resulted in an antibiotic prescription. The incidence of antibiotic prescription was highest in consultations of poultry across AHP. Across species,