A survey of animal health companies shows that the volume of antibiotics used in animals in the USA was virtually unchanged in 2002 compared to 2001, after two consecutive years of declines.

The data were collected from a survey of members of the Animal Health Institute (AHI), consisting of companies that make medicines for pets and farm animals.

In 2002, 22 million pounds of antibiotics were sold for use in both farm and companion animals. While that is a slight increase on the 21.8 million pounds reported in 2001, AHI’s membership base for the 2002 survey was larger than in 2001. When factoring out the different membership base, use in 2002 would have declined slightly from 2001.

"Careful and judicious use of antibiotics to keep animals healthy contributes to the safety of our food supply and the health and well being of our pets," said Alexander S Mathews, AHI president and CEO. "This annual data continues to demonstrate that antibiotics are used prudently and with increasing efficiency."

This year’s survey shows a drop in the portion of antibiotics used for health maintenance. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves antibiotics for use in animal husbandry for four basic purposes: disease treatment, disease control, disease prevention, and health maintenance, as measured by improved growth rates or more efficient feed use. Health maintenance claims have commonly been called "growth promotion." The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) considers treatment, control and prevention of disease to be therapeutic uses. The AHI survey shows that therapeutic use of antibiotics to treat, control and prevent disease rose to more than 90 per cent of total use.

AHI survey respondents provide an assessment each year of the amount of veterinary antibiotics sold for therapeutic use and health maintenance purposes. The percentage of veterinary antibiotics use reported as "therapeutic" was 88 per cent in 2000, 83 percent in 2001 and 91 per cent in 2002.