After falling by 48% between 2011 and 2022, animal exposure to antibiotics increased by 6.5% between 2022 and 2023. However, so-called critical antibiotics, whose continued efficacy is crucial for human medicine, are not affected by this increase, and levels of animal exposure to these antibiotics remain low. A key event in 2023 was the introduction of the new system for monitoring antimicrobial use, which now encompasses antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiprotozoals. The number of reports is still low for 2023, but has seen an increase in recent months that is expected to continue.

The trends observed in previous years concerning bacterial resistance to antibiotics have been confirmed. This resistance varies according to the animal species and the antibiotics in question. However, resistance to critical antibiotics remains very low. This is also confirmed by the monitoring carried out on food-producing animals as part of the European surveillance scheme for antimicrobial resistance.

Certain resistant bacteria are emerging in pets and have been studied in greater detail. These mainly concern bacteria resistant to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics whose use in animals is prohibited, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

On Tuesday 19 November 2024, ANSES organised a themed day of meetings to present the results of this monitoring and discuss the One Health concept and antimicrobial resistance.