New campaign to track antimicrobial use in practice

Antimicrobials have been an invaluable part of medicine, both human and animal, for decades. The range of antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics available has increased almost exponentially over the years, with drugs being prescribed for a huge variety of conditions. Generally speaking, these drugs are effective, can improve welfare and save lives – however, with great power comes great responsibility (sorry).

Everyone who works in a medical field of any description will be aware of antimicrobial resistance, which became a problem shortly after the invention of penicillin (Hunt and Kates, 2024). In fact, researchers at the time found that resistance was an issue even before patients were being treated with the drug (Abraham and Chain, 1940). At that time, resistance may have seemed like a future problem, with the focus more on the incredible results that new antimicrobials were providing, rather than the possible long-term impacts of their use. Fast forward to the present day, and resistance to commonly used drugs is at the forefront of the medical mindset. The most obvious example in the equine world is resistance to antiparasitic medications, with increased resistance being seen across most anthelmintic drug classes (Königová et al, 2025; Scott et al, 2025) – for an overview of common equine parasites, see Victoria Colgate and Emily Floyd's review on page 66.