Antimicrobial Resistance in Companion Animals: A New Challenge for the One Health Approach in the European Union

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the increase in multi-resistant bacteria are among the most important threats to public health worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Moreover, this issue is underpinned by the One Health perspective, due to the ability of AMR to be transmitted between animals and humans living in the same environment. Therefore, since 2014 different surveillance and control programmes have been established to control AMR in commensal and zoonotic bacteria in production animals. However, public health authorities’ reports on AMR leave out companion animals, due to the lack of national programmes and data collection by countries. This missing information constitutes a serious public health concern due to the close contact between companion animals, humans and their surrounding environment. This absence of control and harmonisation between programmes in European countries leads to the ineffectiveness of antibiotics against common diseases. Thus, there is a pressing need to establish adequate surveillance and monitoring programmes for AMR in companion animals and further develop alternatives to antibiotic use in this sector, considering the impact this could have on the gut microbiota. In this context, the aim of this review is to evaluate the current control and epidemiological situations of AMR in companion animals in the European Union (EU), as well as the proposed alternatives to antibiotics.