Agricultural use of antimicrobials, in particular as growth promoters, has been widely implicated as a major contributor to the pool of resistance genes present in the human population. For instance, enterococci with similar resistance patterns to human isolates have been isolated from pigs in Europe (1,2,4). Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in organisms present in pig herds, which can be transferred to humans via the consumption of pork, is therefore necessary to assess the potential impact ofantimicrobial use in pig farms on human health. Much of the data currently available regarding resistance in the veterinary field has been derived from clinical samples submitted for culture and sensitivity testing. This is sufficient only to monitor trends in resistance amongst pathogens and due to sampling bias, may not be representative of the animal population as a whole or of all geographical areas. In addition, this information can rarely be related back to antimicrobial use. In order that meaningful data may be gathered, it is necessaiy to consider the epidemiology of resistance in the populations of interest on farm and to use this information to devise rational sampling strategies (3). For this purpose, epidemiological models have been developed which can be used to aid monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in pig herds.
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