Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Gastro-Intestinal Surgery: An Evaluation of Current Veterinary Practices in Southwest Nigeria

A study on the use of prophylactic antibiotics in gastro-intestinal surgery by veterinary practices in southwest Nigeria was conducted to evaluate current practices using structured questionnaire and a retrospective study of hospital care records. The results indicated that the use of prophylactic antibiotics in surgery was embraced by all practices with Amoxicillin>Oxytetracycline>Ciprofloxacin>Penstrept and Penstrept>Oxytetracycline>Ciprofloxacin and Amoxicillin being the most prescribed antibiotics for general and gastro-intestinal procedures, respectively. Significant number of practices administered antibiotic prophylaxis for a duration of 5 or more days. All practices administered antibiotic prophylaxis post-operatively while 43.75 and 25.00% of practices also gave additional presurgical and peri-surgical doses, respectively. Only few practices (12.5%) insist on pre-surgical laboratory tests with complete blood count being the most requested analysis. Majority of practices have no protocol for aseptic preparation. It is concluded that the current veterinary practices investigated encouraged inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and may portend serious ecologic consequences in patients undergoing GIT surgery.