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. 2023 Jul 11;13(14):2270.
doi: 10.3390/ani13142270.

PRRSV-1 Stabilization Programs in French Farrow-to-Finish Farms: A Way to Reduce Antibiotic Usage

Charlotte Teixeira Costa  1 , Pauline Berton  2 , Gwenaël Boulbria  1   2 , Valérie Normand  1   2 , Mathieu Brissonnier  2 , Arnaud Lebret  1   2
Affiliations

PRRSV-1 Stabilization Programs in French Farrow-to-Finish Farms: A Way to Reduce Antibiotic Usage

Charlotte Teixeira Costa et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Infection with the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus type 1 (PRRSV-1) has serious economic consequences for the pig industry. Swine practitioners and other agricultural advisors often describe an increase in antibiotic use when PRRSV-1 is circulating. Our objective was to assess the impact of PRRSV-1 stabilization programs on reducing antibiotic use in 19 French farrow-to-finish farms that successfully implemented such a protocol between 2007 and 2019. For each farm, we compared the global antibiotic consumption, including all physiological stages (expressed in mg/PCU and ALEA) one year before (P1) and one year after (P2) the implementation of the protocol, and the change between P1 and P2 was calculated in percentages. The data were also analyzed by level of consumption. We showed that antibiotic use decreased significantly between P1 and P2 if expressed in mg/PCU and showed a decreased tendency in terms of exposure (ALEA) after PRRSV-1 stabilization. Concerning the change from P1 to P2, depending on the level of consumption in P1, our results showed that the higher the consumption levels were in P1, the greater the antibiotic reduction in P2. This study highlights the ability of a stabilization protocol against PRRSV-1 to reduce antibiotic use, especially on farms that have high consumption rates. These hopeful results show that further investigations about the relationship between PRRSV-1 and antibiotic usage could be beneficial.

Keywords: PRRSV-1 stabilization program; antibiotic usage; health management; pig production sector; porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The company had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of antibiotic families regarding the quantities of active ingredients consumed during both periods (19 farms).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall consumption per farm between P1 and P2 for (a) ALEA and (b) mg/PCU. The bars represent the sum of all treatments implemented during each period.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparisons of mean antibiotic consumption between P1 and P2 measured as ALEA (a) and as mg/PCU (b). The bars represent the average value of antibiotic usage obtained from all farms during the two periods. Two datasets for each indicator (ALEA and mg/PCU) were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test; ‘*’ means p < 0.05 and ‘•’ means p < 0.10.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of antibiotic usage values using two different indicators: ALEA, a French indicator (a), and the European indicator expressed in mg/PCU (b). Black blocks show antibiotic usage in P1; grey blocks usage in P2. The horizontal line in each block represents the median.
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