AACTING 2024 AACTING 2024: 4th International Conference on the Quantification, Benchmarking and Stewardship of Veterinary Antimicrobial Usage

Originally set up in 2017, the AACTING group was initially a small network of researchers, data analysts, government scientists and veterinarians who focused on the collection, analysis, benchmarking, and communication of antimicrobial use in veterinary medicine. Since the inaugural conference in Ghent, Belgium in 2018, the AACTING group has grown, and the conference has become the primary meeting place to exchange ideas and network with antimicrobial use researchers from around the world. With the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and the new EU Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation (2019/6), which came into force in January 2022, this network has become particularly important for discussing how to achieve goals set and which solutions are best suited to protect both human and animal health.

AACTING 2024 in Vienna was attended by almost 100 researchers from over 20 countries, ranging from the USA, Argentina, Canada, and Uganda to a variety of European nations. Participants represented a number of universities and also the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Public Health Authority of Canada (PHAC), the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK), the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, the Austrian Agency of Health and Food Safety (AGES), the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the UK Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Knowledge charity, and the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO), amongst others. Additional participants also joined the conference via an online streaming link.

Attendees were welcomed to the 4^th AACTING Conference by Florian Fellinger of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK), responsible for veterinary medicines and a sponsor of the conference, and Clair Firth (Vetmeduni), Chair of the local organising committee.

The first keynote speaker was Cristina Ribeiro-Silva from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) talking about the past, present and future of European surveillance of antimicrobial consumption in animals, followed by invited speakers Morgan Jeannin from the World Animal Health Organisation (WOAH, formerly OIE) and Rodolphe Mader (ICARS/FAO presenting the new FAO/WOAH guidelines on monitoring antimicrobial use at farm level.

The afternoon session was opened by the next keynote speaker, Gwen Rees of the University of Aberystwyth (Wales, UK), presenting their success at implementing a national antimicrobial stewardship programme for farm veterinarians in Wales. The final keynote speaker was Roswitha Merle of the Free University in Berlin (Germany), who introduced the work of the newly created AACTING subgroup working on antimicrobial use in companion animals (i.e., pets and horses). Other invited speakers presented their work on benchmarking, stewardship and antimicrobial data analysis from the UK, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Pakistan, the Netherlands, and Argentina. A wide variety of posters were also on display, and poster prizes were presented to researchers from Argentina, Northern Ireland, and Germany.

The organisers would like to thank the rectorate of the Vetmeduni and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) for sponsoring AACTING 2024.

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Photos: Thomas Suchanek/Vetmeduni