PHAROS

General

The PHAROS database in Austria is operated by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). The provision of data is regulated by the law ‘Veterinär-Antibiotika-Mengenströme-Verordnung’ BGBl. II Nr. 83/2014. Due to its statutory nature, it is relevant to 100% of the farms in the animal sectors pigs, dairy cows, beef cattle, broilers, laying hens, turkeys, goats and sheep.

Data collection

Animal subcategoriesThe main animal categories (pigs, cattle, poultry, goat, sheep), the farm id and the farm type has to be reported. Further animal subcategories can then be determined via livestock data of each holding. For poultry, data are collected at batch level.

Input: The role of vets is to provide the amount of AMU dispensed to the farm or batch. Farmers can voluntarily provide health data of poultry and dairy cattle. In addition to data from vets and farmers, AGES receives data to calculate the Austrian AMU indicator, based on the livestock of each holding. The additional data sources are: Agrarmarkt Austria Marketing database, the Veterinary Information System database and the Poultry Health Data.

Analysis

Analysis at farm level is done using the dose-based unit of measurement DDDvet as defined by EMA[1]. The denominator is calculated from the number of animals, estimated national values for the animal weight at treatment and the number of sold/slaughtered animals for each animal category on the holding. The indicator (n DDDvet/kg/year) is then calculated from the dispensed AMU (in DDDvet) and divided by the denominator.

[1] http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Other/2016/04/WC500205410.pdf.

Benchmarking and reporting

Benchmark systems for vets and pig holders are implemented in the PHAROS database. Vets can download their individual reports. Farm level results are distributed via the Austrian animal health service to interested farmers. 
A general report is published once a year on the AGES website. Furthermore, the results are discussed at the meeting of the chief veterinary officers of the federal provinces and are also presented at the annual antibiotic awareness day and at the annual meeting of the pharmaceutical industry and wholesalers.