Vol. 9, Issue 9, Part E (2025)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a critical global health concern, threatening both human and animal health, and undermining the effectiveness of available treatment options. In veterinary medicine, the problem is particularly alarming in countries like India, where livestock, poultry, and companion animals constitute a significant part of the agricultural and domestic ecosystem and serve as potential reservoirs of resistant bacterial pathogens. The indiscriminate and often unregulated use of antibiotics for therapeutic, prophylactic, and growth-promoting purposes has further accelerated the selection pressure, contributing to the widespread dissemination of resistant strains. This meta-analytic study was conducted to systematically estimate the pooled prevalence of AMR among five priority bacterial pathogens of veterinary importance, namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, isolated from different animal sources across India. A comprehensive search of published literature was carried out using electronic databases and institutional repositories to identify relevant studies reporting resistance patterns. The findings of this study highlight considerable variation in resistance levels across bacterial species and antibiotic categories, with multidrug resistance (MDR) emerging as a major concern in veterinary pathogens. Overall, this study provides robust pooled evidence of the burden of AMR in animal-associated bacterial pathogens in India.