Lab Okello Research

Survey of Antibiotic Drug Use in California Dairy Cows

 

What is the Study About?

This study was conducted to better understand how the new regulations for using antimicrobial drugs in livestock have affected California dairies. This was done by sending out two different surveys in 2018 and 2019 to all dairies in California. We made the surveys available to dairymen in two different ways; the first being that we sent the survey in the mail while the second was the VMTRC's website and could be filled out on an online survey. The questions that were asked were on their current use of antimicrobial drugs and how they changed the way they have used antimicrobial drugs. Also asking their opinions on the challenges they were having in complying with the new Senate Bill No. 27 and VFD Final Rule.

Goals

Main Goal
  • To assess the impact of antimicrobial resistance legislation (Senate Bill No. 27) on CA dairies
Specific Goals
  • To gather information on medically important antimicrobial drug usage,
    antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, and livestock management practice data
  • To identify resistance trends to the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the dairy industry and help in the design of sustainable antimicrobial use strategies
Research Team

PI: Sharif Aly; Co-PIs: Emmanuel Okello, Terry Lehenbauer, Deniece Williams, Betsy Karle, Richard Pereira, Munashe Chigerwe