Table 1.
Definition of the main terms, abbreviation and acronyms used in this paper.
| AMD | Antimicrobial drug |
| AST | Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing |
| AUC | Area under plasma concentration-time curve |
| AUC/MIC | A PK/PD index; defined as the area under the concentration–time curve at steady-state over 24 h unless otherwise stated. |
| CART analysis | Classification and Regression Tree Analysis |
| CBP | Clinical Breakpoint; the values of MIC (mg/L) selected by an ad hoc committee to be used by testing laboratories to qualitatively report the results of AST as Susceptible (S), Intermediate (I), or Resistant (R). Not to be confused with cut-offs. |
| CLSI | The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute |
| CLSI/VAST | Sub-committee of CLSI dealing with the susceptibility testing of veterinary pathogens and determination of veterinary CBP |
| Cmax/MIC | A PK/PD index; the peak plasma concentration divided by MIC |
| CO | A threshold value for MICs to separate two entities or targets |
| COCL | Term not used by EUCAST; for CLSI, Clinical cut-off is the MIC value for which probability-of-cure can be achieved with a routine dosage regimen in a given percentage of animals |
| EARS-Net | European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network |
| ECDC | European Center for Disease prevention and Control |
| ECOFF | Epidemiological (bacteriological) cut-off |
| EFSA | European Food Safety Authority |
| EMA | European Medicines Agency |
| ESCMID | European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases |
| EU | European Union |
| EUCAST | European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing |
| FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization (part of UN) |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration |
| MCS | Monte Carlo simulation; Monte Carlo methods are a class of computational algorithms that use repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. In the context of AMDs, MCS is a tool for determining the probability of achieving a specific PK/PD index value defined as a PTA |
| MBC | Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (mg/L) |
| MIC | Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (mg/L) |
| OIE | World Organization for Animal Health (retained OIE as its historical acronym) |
| PK | Pharmacokinetics; drug disposition |
| PK/PD breakpoint | Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic; the MIC value for which a targeted PK/PD index value can be achieved with a routine dosage regimen in a given percentage of animals (usually 90%) |
| Prediction interval | In statistical inference, specifically predictive inference, a prediction interval is an estimate of an interval in which future observations will fall, with a certain probability, given what has already been observed. |
| PTA | Probability of Target Achievement/Attainment (synonym of TAR). In Monte Carlo simulations, the probability that at least a specific value of a pharmacodynamic index (e.g., 30% fT > MIC; fAUC/MIC of 100) is achieved at a certain (minimum inhibitory) concentration. |
| T > MIC | A PK/PD index; the cumulative percentage of a 24 h period that the drug concentration exceeds the MIC under steady-state pharmacokinetic conditions unless otherwise stated |
| VetCAST | Veterinary Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing |
| VICH | Veterinary International Conference on Harmonization; VICH is a trilateral (EU–Japan–United States) program aimed at harmonizing technical requirements for veterinary product registration |
| WHO | World Health Organization |