USAGE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN DAIRY FARMS OF KATHMANDU, NEPAL
Supriya Sharma*, Sabita Ghimire, Chandra Mani Kafle and Suprina Sharma
ABSTRACT
Although antibiotics used in dairy farms have economic benefits for producers, it might enter the aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to the increasing emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Therefore, to
assess the usage of antibiotics in dairy farms, a survey was conducted from May to Nov, 2014 in ten dairy farms at
Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts by using survey questionnaire. The data obtained was entered into Microsoft
Office Excel sheet for analysis. None of the farms had written plans for treating sick animals with antibiotics.
However, all the farm owners always sought the veterinarian's advice before administering antibiotics. Other than
the veterinarian, antibiotics were administered to animals by the owners in all cases. All the farm owners had
practiced the complete course of treatment following administration of an antibiotic except in one farm which had
practice of using overdose of antibiotics. None of the farm owners visibly marked treated cows as "treated". Only
two farm owners were trained on rearing animals and those were only applying the separate milking practice of
treated cows. Lack of written plans for treating sick animals with antibiotics, practice of overuse of antibiotics
beyond the prescribed duration and untrained farm owners who were unaware of milking of treated cows on
separate unit are factors that can lead to inappropriate use of antibiotics. However, administration of antibiotics
only after veterinarian's advice before administering antibiotics was found to be a good practice.
Keywords: Antibiotics, Farm, Dairy.
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