Concluding remarks on ‘risking antimicrobial resistance’

Abstract

This chapter concludes this edited volume. Altogether, the volume has elucidated a series of factors that might contribute to the relative low consumption of antibiotics in Denmark. Some of these factors concern how general practitioners restrain antibiotic prescriptions even when under pressure from patients. Other factors concern the regulatory system that limits the amount of antimicrobials that the individual pig producer must use in production, and the biosecurity concern among Danish pig producers that help in protecting pigs against infections. However, the studies in this volume have also pointed to room for improvement in the respective spheres. For example, official guidelines are difficult to translate into clinical practice for doctors in the primary sector, and pig farmers feel stigmatized as a result of the public debate about their use of antibiotics. Finally, this chapter concludes that a broad palette of social scientific methods, such as the one which has been invoked in this book, is necessary in order to accomplish a satisfactory understanding of all the social factors that impact excessive use of antibiotics, lead to resistance, and endanger public health.