Broad-spectrum antibiotic focusing on evidence-based approaches to minimize resistance. In humans: In veterinary medicine, co-amoxiclav, (in small animals); penicillin & streptomycin and oxytetracycline (in farm animals); penicillin and potentiated sulfonamides (in horses). Broad-spectrum antibiotic The term broad-spectrum antibiotic can refer to an antibiotic that acts on the two major bacterial groups, gram-positive and gram-negative, or any antibiotic that acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. These medications are used when a bacterial infection is suspected but the group of bacteria is unknown (also called empiric therapy) or when infection with multiple groups of bacteria is suspected. This is in contrast to
Antibiotic use in livestock cover all these areas and instead focuses on the use of antibiotics for growth promotion, which has been banned in Europe since 2006, and on legislation regarding antibiotic use in farm animals in the USA. In 2013, the CDC finalized and released a report detailing antibiotic resistance and classified the top 18 resistant bacterium as either being urgent, serious or concerning threats. Of those organisms, three ("C. diff", carbapanem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, and "Neisseria gonorrhoeae") have been classified as urgent threats and require more monitoring and prevention. In the US alone, more than 2 million people are diagnosed with antibiotic-resistant infections and