In practice

In human medicine, the prevalence of allergies has increased during the last decades. A similar tendencyis suspected in small animal veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, only little information is availableabout the prevalence of allergies in dogs in Flanders. In this study, veterinarians and owners wereasked about the five most common types of allergy, i.e. atopy, flea allergy, food allergy, contact allergyand allergy to medication and injections. The median prevalence, estimated by the veterinarians, wasrespectively 15%, 10%, 5%, 2% and 1%. Some remarkable differences with the literature were noticed.A blood test was mentioned by the owners as the most frequently used test to diagnose food allergies.Living in an urban environment could not be linked with an increased risk to develop allergies, and11% of the veterinarians reported washing-powder as a contact allergen. In the opinion of more thanhalf of the veterinarians, the number of dogs with an allergy has increased during his/her career.

Although breeding pedigree cats is increasingly popular, there is still a lack of scientific data aboutparturition and the problems that might occur. The incidence of kitten mortality varies between 15 and40 %. In this study, information was collected by means of a questionnaire on six popular breeds inFlanders. Information from 151 litters was obtained. An average gestation length of 65.1 ± 2.64 daysand an average litter size of 4.5 ± 1.73 kittens were extracted from the questionnaire. The litter size incats older than four years old was found to be significantly smaller (3.6 ± 1.48 kittens) than in youngercats (4.8 ± 1.71 kittens) (P = 0.001). A caesarean section was performed in 8.5% of the litters. Onaverage, in 6.8% of the litters, a congenital defect in one or more kittens was reported. A mortality rateof 21.4% was observed from birth until weaning. A significant higher rate of stillbirths was observedin small (1-3 kittens: 12.2%) and in large litter sizes (6-9 kittens: 7.3%) than in litters of four (4.8%)or five (3.5%) kittens (P = 0.016).

Farm biosecurity includes the prevention of disease transmission within and between farms. Two studies were set up to investigate what motivates and withholds farmers to implement biosecurity measures. The first study aimed to assess the perception of cattle farmers towards biosecurity and to identify possible reasons for its low application. This study consisted of a focus group discussion, of which the trends were used to develop a questionnaire for Flemish cattle farmers. Although the 91 participating farmers were familiar with several measures, they associated them with disease prevention rather than biosecurity. Nearly all farmers (98%) identified their herd veterinarian as their main source of information. Twenty percent and 32% of the respondents were convinced that the implementation of biosecurity would cost them more money and time, respectively. Finally, 80% of the farmers saw room for improvement of their herd, but indicated a need for practical information. The second study aimed to identify the key elements of twenty preselected biosecurity measures, motivators and obstacles for their implementation. They were judged by twenty-two cattle stakeholders, such as farmers, veterinarians and advisors, on feasibility, efficacy and return on investment. A box for parturition, a plan for rodent control and cleaning and disinfection of the stables scored highest overall. The lowest scoring measures were showering before entering the stables and an animal-free period of 24 hours. Their return on investment scored very low, since high investments are required. For a farmer to understand why biosecurity is beneficial, he must understand all risks and costs of disease and how biosecurity may reduce these risks and costs.

By means of a survey, the authors attempted to determine the work situation of graduated veterinarystudents and the perception of the quality of education at the Ghent University. Three veterinariancohorts were contacted who graduated at different time intervals: between 2002 and 2004, 2009 and2011 and between 2014 and 2016. Out of 488 completed surveys (47% of the contacted respondents),it became apparent that veterinarians in Flanders work on average 47 hours per week and are relativelyhappy about their day-to-day tasks. Eighty percent (most recently graduated group) and 68% (longestgraduated group) of the respondents work as a veterinary practitioner and 81% of these practitionerswork in a group practice. Veterinarians with Belgian nationality are mostly self-employed, while mostDutch veterinarians work on the payroll of someone else. The results of the survey show that therespondents are happy with the theoretic part of the veterinary study, but believe that there is notenough focus on the practicing part, which is too limited. According to the respondents, veterinarytraining should be more focused on first-line veterinary medicine, on the developing of communicationskills with clients and colleagues and on business management.

A prospective study was performed to explore the prescription habits in fourteen first-line,small animal practices during first consultations of cats and dogs. Consultations one monthprior to the implementation of antimicrobial use guidelines and at least 20 days thereafter wereexamined. Differences in the proportion of consultations during which antimicrobials wereprescribed, were assessed. Additionally, changes in the choice of active substance were criticallyevaluated against the introduced antimicrobial use guidelines. The proportion of consultationswhere antimicrobials were prescribed decreased in cats and dogs (both –12%) after theintroduction of the antimicrobial use guidelines. There was an increase of consultations of cats(+13%) and dogs (+10%) where veterinarians handled according to those guidelines. However,an increase in the prescription of third-choice antimicrobials and highest priority criticallyimportant antimicrobials was noticed both in cats (+8% and +12%, respectively) and dogs (both+5%). This unexpected increase invites to create extra awareness amongst prescribers.

In a recent article from China, a transferable resistance mechanism has been described in Escherichiacoli (E. coli), isolated from food-producing animals, meat and hospital patients (Liu et al., 2015).Recently, this resistance mechanism has also been found in Denmark, France, the United Kingdom andBelgium. Colistin is considered as one of the last resort treatments against multi-resistant bacteria inhuman medicine, especially for patients with cystic fibrosis. Alertness is needed and the new resistancemechanism has to be detected properly in animal and human related bacteria.