EQUINE | CPD Article
Table showing diseases for which short course antibiotic therapy has been found to be as effective as longer
traditional courses of therapy in human medicine
Diagnosis Short (days) Long (days) Result
Community-acquired pneumonia 3 or 5 7, 8 or 10 Equal
Hospital-acquired/ventilator-associated pneumonia 7-8 14-15 Equal
Complicated urinary tract infection/pyelonephritis 5 or 7 10 or 14 Equal
Complicated/post-operative intra-abdominal infections 4 or 8 10 or 15 Equal
Gram-negative bacteraemia 7 14 Equal
Acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis/chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease ≤5 ≥7 Equal
Acute skin infections/cellulitis/major abscess 5-6 10 Equal
Chronic osteomyelitis 42 84 Equal
(Wald-Dickler and Speelberg 2019)
De-escalation therapy is also encouraged. This refers
to initial broad-spectrum empirical treatment until
identification of the infectious agent and antimicrobial
susceptibility testing can direct use of more narrow-
spectrum antibiotics.
6. Antibiotic Stewardship Team
The “Guidelines for the Implementation of the
Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy in South Africa: One
Health Approach and Governance (June 2017)” require
human healthcare facilities to have an antimicrobial
stewardship team. This is a multi-disciplinary team
with training in antibiotic stewardship. The structure is
dependent on available skills but a suggested team is
shown below:
While it’s not possible to form such teams in most
veterinary facilities in South Africa an effort should be
made to involve staff other than just veterinarians, e.g.
nurses, in antibiotic stewardship activities.
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