Veterinary Science & Technology

Assessment of Rational Veterinary Drugs Use in Livestock at Adama District Veterinary Clinic, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Takele Beyene, Sultan Assefa, Dinka Ayana, Tariku Jibat, Fanos Tadesse, Dereje Nigussie and Ashenafi Feyisa Beyi

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate rational drug use in livestock at Adama district veterinary clinic, central Ethiopia. 2,000 animal patients’ encounters were randomly selected for the study from prescription registration books retrospectively. A total of 2,489 drug products prescribed for a total of 2,000 patients were assessed. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 1.25 with maximum of three. The percentages of encounters in which antimicrobials (AM) and anthelmintics (AH) were prescribed were 46.4% (1,156/2,489) and 46.7% (1,163/2,489), respectively. The percentages of drugs prescribed by generic name and from national veterinary drug list were 97.4% (2,424/2,489) and 100%, respectively. The most commonly prescribed AM and AH were oxytetracycline 73.9% (854), penicillin and streptomycin fixed combination 22.6% (261) and ivermectin 94.8% (1,102), respectively. Among the total of 2,000 animal patient encounters, all (100%) were treated empirically without getting correct laboratory supported diagnosis. Evaluation of drug prescription pattern based on clinical symptoms or disease diagnosed revealed that AM (22.6%) and AH (36.7%) were mostly prescribed for respiratory and musculoskeletal-integumentary systems, and gastrointestinal related clinical symptoms, respectively. The study result also showed AM (6.5%) were prescribed for parasitic diseases whereas AH were administered for bacterial (2.9%) and surgical (0.9%) cases respectively. Among 2489 drugs prescribed by professionals, 1762 (88.1%) and 238 (11.9%) were done by animal health assistants and veterinarians, respectively. On the basis of the finding of this study, the prescribing practice for antimicrobials shows deviation from the standard recommended by WHO. The findings had shown problems in generic prescribing, incorrect diagnosis and standardized patient case book with low prescribers’ educational status in the study area. Therefore, veterinary drugs should be judiciously used; and a wide scale study to safeguard the public from drug residual effects and antimicrobial resistance development is recommended.