Antimicrobial usage surveys using electronic medical records in cattle practice in Gifu Prefecture.

As the majority of antimicrobial treatments for cattle in Japan are prescribed by veterinarians, medical record information can be useful in clarifying the amount and purpose of antimicrobial use. In this study, we examined their amount and purpose in cattle practices in Gifu Prefecture. In cattle, approximately 85% of the antimicrobials are used for the treatment of gastrointestinal (50.4%) and respiratory diseases (34.4%). The main antimicrobials were sulfonamides (27.1 kg, 49.2%), followed by amphenicols (11.9 kg, 21.7%). As for second-line antimicrobials for veterinary treatment, fluoroquinolones, a third-generation cephalosporins, and 15 membered-ring macrolides, accounted for 5.6%, 0.1%, and 0.9% of all antimicrobials, respectively. Thus, medical record information may represent the actual situation of not only antimicrobial use, but also the significance of the disease in local regions.