A pharmaco-epidemiological survey of the use and misuse of antibiotics in selected veterinary clinics and farms in southern Nigeria

Abstract

A pharmaco-epidemiological survey was carried out to determine the most used and misused antibiotics in selected veterinary clinics and farms in three urban cities in the southwest and south-south geopolitical zones of Nigeria. In all, 55 respondents comprising 40 veterinary doctors, 9 animal health workers and 6 farmers provided information for the study. Forty (40%) of the respondents had mixed practice especially those of canine and avian species. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS Package. Narrow spectrum antibiotics like procaine penicillin were preferred for use as first choice antibiotics before complementing with broad spectrum antibiotics like amoxicillin. Tetracyclines had the highest frequency of use (60%) and were used in most species. It was followed by aminoglycosides (27.3%); cephalosporins (3.6%) used in avian species and macrolides (3.6%) used in canine species. Tetracyclines were the most misused antibiotics (81.0%) followed by penicillins (31%), aminoglycosides (12%), macrolides (4.8%), cephalosporins (2.4%) and fluoroquinolones (2.4%). Adverse reactions were seen when enrofloxacin was combined with tylosin, while combination of penicillin and tetracycline was undesirable. At higher than therapeutic doses, tetracyclines produced myositis, muscle stiffness, lameness, sub-cutaneous swellings and hypersensitivity reactions while penicillins showed only hypersensitivity reactions.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, Oxytetracycline, Pharmaco-epidemiology, Penicillins