Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most serious global public health threats in this century. The first World Health Organization (WHO) Global report on surveillance of AMR, published in ...April 2014, collected for the first time data from national and international surveillance networks, showing the extent of this phenomenon in many parts of the world and also the presence of large gaps in the existing surveillance. In this review, we focus on antibacterial resistance (ABR), which represents at the moment the major problem, both for the high rates of resistance observed in bacteria that cause common infections and for the complexity of the consequences of ABR. We describe the health and economic impact of ABR, the principal risk factors for its emergence and, in particular, we illustrate the highlights of four antibiotic-resistant pathogens of global concern - Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, non-typhoidal Salmonella and Mycobacterium tuberculosis - for whom we report resistance data worldwide. Measures to control the emergence and the spread of ABR are presented.
•Consumer purchasing of pet products to online (versus in-store) is evident.•Dog owners were willing to pay $38.04 for telemedicine from their veterinarian.•Cat owners were willing to pay $38.12 for ...telemedicine from their veterinarian.•Pet owners placed more value on telemedicine with their own veterinarian.
Changing consumer shopping behaviors, and specifically the shift towards online procurement of goods and services, have altered the retail landscape of nearly all goods, including pet products and services. Whilst it is known and commonly discussed that less retail business for products and medications is being conducted in clinics than in the past, it is not well documented where that commerce is now taking place, and by what customer segments. For cats, dogs, and other pets, specialty food and food in general was purchased by a high percentage of respondents at the physical store. Sixteen-percent of dog owners, 17 % of cat owners and 14 % of other animal owners purchased prescription food at the veterinarian. Ten percent of dog owners, 10 % of cat owners, and 9 % of other animal owners purchased prescription food from the physical store. A high percentage of cat and dog owners purchased flea and tick preventative, heartworm preventative and prescription medications at the veterinarian, followed by the physical store. Using a choice experiment, both dog and cat owners were willing-to-pay a statistically significant positive amount for having their veterinarian, or a veterinarian in their community (who was not their veterinarian) on the veterinary telemedicine call or video when compared to a veterinarian from outside the community. In relation to the willingness to pay (WTP) for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with a veterinarian outside of the pet owners' community, dog owners were willing to pay $38.04 more for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with their regular veterinarian, and $13.38 more for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with a veterinarian in the dog owners' community. Cat owners had a WTP of $38.12 per call or visit for having their veterinarian as the consultant which was statistically higher than their WTP for a veterinarian in their community, $12.74 when compared to a veterinarian outside their community. When comparing the mean price adjusted WTP between cat and dog owners, there were not any statistically significant differences found. Quantifying pet owner willingness to pay for commonly discussed attributes of telemedicine, such as whether a local veterinarian is consulted (versus a veterinarian from outside the community), facilitates veterinary practice management decision making as practices adjust product and service offerings to meet the changing consumer demand of pet owners in today’s marketplace.
In the originally published version of this Article, the affiliation details for Dorina Avram incorrectly included "Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, ...University of Florida, 2015 SW 16th Ave, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA", instead of "UF Health Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA". This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.