The Government Analyst Department is advising veterinarians not to administer cephalosporins as a treatment to food producing animals in order to preserve the effectiveness of this drug for treating disease in humans.
According to a press release, the advisory stems from a US Food and Drug Administration prohibition order on the use of this drug as a veterinary drug treatment on food producing animals. “The order prohibits certain uses of the cephalosporins (excluding Cephapirin) Class of antimicrobial drugs in cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys,” the release said, adding that “Prohibiting these uses is intended to reduce the risk of Cephalosporin resistance in certain bacterial pathogens.”
In its order, the US FDA is prohibiting what are called “extra label” or unapproved uses of cephalosporins in the said livestock as they comprise the major species of food producing animals. Specifically, the prohibited uses include using cephalosporin drugs at unapproved dose levels, frequencies, durations, or routes of administration; using cephalosporin drugs in cattle, swine, chickens or turkeys that are not approved for use in that species, since cephalosporin drugs are intended for human treatments and using cephalosporin drugs for disease prevention.
Accordingly, the Department is alerting veterinarians and veterinary assistants not to administer to food producing animals or sell cephalosporin for veterinary use.
In addition, the Department is reminding importers of veterinary drugs to comply with the regulatory requirements to be registered as importers to facilitate the monitoring of imported veterinary drugs. The Department will also be utilising its new collaboration with the Guyana Revenue Authority to intercept non-compliant importers and illicit veterinary products. Local manufacturers are also required to be registered with the Department.
