Amoxicillin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid resistance in veterinary medicine - the situation in Europe: a review

In the recent past years, important efforts towards the prudent use of antimicrobials have been made in order to optimize antibacterial use, and maximize therapeutic effect while minimizing the development of resistance. Knowledge on the occurrence of resistance in bacteria could help in improving the clinical success of therapeutic decisions. Since the discovery of amoxicillin, this drug has been extensively used throughout the world in veterinary medicine, alone and also in combination with clavulanic acid. This paper provides information regarding the current situation of resistance to amoxicillin (and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid) in animals in Europe. Most data comes from food-animal species, mainly from several national monitoring programmes of antimicrobial resistance, and information on companion animals is also available.