Companion Animal Owners’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions Regarding Antibiotic Use in Portugal

Margarida Correia Dias, Russell Alpizar-Jara, Catarina Lavrador, Cátia Marques, Els M. Broens, Elsa L. Duarte

Resultado de pesquisarevisão de pares

Resumo

While multiple studies have focused on the motivations surrounding antibiotic prescription among veterinarians, little is known about companion animal owners’ knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP) regarding the topic. A nationwide survey directed toward Portuguese dog and cat owners was conducted online and at veterinary practices to characterize their KAP regarding antibiotics. After database curation, a total of 423 valid submissions were considered. Although 97.9% of respondents stated that they knew what an antibiotic was, 23.5% and 19.2% answered that they were used to treat viral and fungal infections, respectively. Antimicrobial effectiveness was favored over cost when 87.7% of owners agreed they would prefer to spend more money to identify the appropriate antibiotic. Around 87% of respondents recognized antibiotic resistance as a significant health problem and 74.6% strongly agreed/somewhat agreed that antibiotic use in pets may contribute to resistance development. However, only 25.3% recognized that this could promote resistance dissemination, showing little awareness of the interconnection between human and animal health. Moreover, 55.6% of respondents were neutral when asked whether antibiotics used in veterinary medicine were also important for humans. These findings suggest that communication between veterinarians and pet owners can still be improved to further clarify the impact that antibiotic use has in pets from a One-Health perspective, also enabling antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

Idioma originalInglês
Número do artigo533
RevistaAntibiotics
Volume13
Número de emissão6
DOIs
Estado da publicaçãoPublicadas - 7 jun. 2024

Nota bibliográfica

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.

Financiamento

Financiadoras/-esNúmero do financiador
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia2022.07550.PTDC
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia2022.07550

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