Horses worldwide are suffering the effects of antibiotic resistance, rendering antibiotic treatment for a variety of infections ineffective. However, better education of both veterinarians and owners—especially in developing countries—and ongoing research can help reverse this trend, said the head of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

And there’s no better time to become educated on the topic than during World Antibiotic Awareness Week, taking place Nov. 16-20.

“We’re seeing a recent phenomenon where more therapeutic treatments (against bacteria) are failing, whereas 20 years ago these same treatments worked well,” said Bernard Vallat, DVM, director general of the OIE, in Paris, France. “These failures are happening more and more often—and not just in equine species, but in all species, including humans.”

Antibiotic resistance occurs when certain bacteria survive an antibiotic treatment. These bacteria might have survived the treatment because of a genetic ability to resist that particular treatment, or a mutation that helps them overcome the antibiotic’s effects. As survivors, they reproduce and create an entire colony of treatment-resistant germs that can then spread to other animals, or people, according to the OIE