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 prophylaxis to the serious problem of superbugs (which are bred in antibiotic-rich environments) the Food and Drug Administration issued a guidance document in December 2013. The chief public health officer of Canada said four months later that "antibiotics should only be used in animals to treat infection rather than guard against disease or promote growth." The Canadian guidance document calls for "the prudent use of antibiotics in animal agriculture and a gradual phasing out of growth promoting drugs in feed and water over the three years" ending in 2017. Producers will no longer be allowed to continuously feed animals doses of