An Event in the Veterinary Community: REQUEST First Guidelines are now Available

PARIS, July 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- REQUEST - a group of European veterinary experts in anti-infective diseases - organised a specific session during the last WSAVA Congress in Geneva, the 4th of June 2010.

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The objective was to deliver the first results of this group working on the proper use of Fluoroquinolones in companion animals. After the presentation of REQUEST methodology, the three first guidelines have been revealed.

REQUEST guidelines now offer practical and sound advice in treating cats and dogs suffering from bacterial diseases for a more efficient and easy everyday practice.

REQUEST also announced the creation of its website, http://www.request-guidelines.org.

The experts also have an ambitious publications plan, starting with five articles submitted to peer reviews.

The next REQUEST session will take place in November in Paris to validate additional guidelines and publications.

What is REQUEST?

A multinational and multidisciplinary independent group of experts in veterinary medicine.

What are the REQUEST objectives? REassessing fluoroQUinolones European STandards:

    - Achieve a consensus on when and how to prescribe
      fluoroquinolones among companion animals
    - Highlight priorities for future research and academic work
    - Encourage collaborative studies, involving the animal health
      industry, the practitioners, the veterinary universities and other
      research institutions.

    The REQUEST founders are:

    - Pr Jean-Pierre Cotard, Chairman (France)
    - Prs Boulouis (France), Dupré (Austria), Farca (Italy), Kietzmann
      (Germany), Lechowski (Poland), Drs Caney (UK), Fontaine (Belgium),
      Leblanc (France)

REQUEST Group followed a methodology based on evidenced-based medicine, but rapidly identified the need for a specific veterinary approach. This led to the creation of two composite indexes:

    - index grading of recommendations that encompasses pharmacokinetics,
      susceptibility and clinical data

    - index ranking of medications that encompasses efficacy, safety,
      convenience and compliance data.

Crossing grading of more than 400 articles with major indications of fluoroquinolones allowed designing a matrix for dogs and one for cats.

    From this matrix REQUEST members will edit one guideline per indication.
    Three guidelines are now available to practitioners:

    - dog's pyoderma
    - dog's urinary tract infections
    - dog's upper respiratory tract infections

VETOQUINOL provides the appropriate support to conduct this work independently. To ensure relevant outcomes, StratAdviserLtd has been granted permission to organize REQUEST and provide any scientific and methodological support required to achieve its goals. Therefore VETOQUINOL had no involvement in the methodology, analysis and interpretation of data nor in the writing of the output or in the decision to submit the manuscripts for publication.

SOURCE REQUEST