Higher welfare systems needed to end routine use of antibiotics in animal production.

 

Could current animal welfare standards in industrial production systems undermine the European Commission’s ambitious new rules to restrict the use of antimicrobials in livestock production?

Strategies that address the role of antibiotic use in animals to drug resistance.

Strategies that address the role of antibiotic use in animals to drug resistance. The first involves a global regulation that would cap the use of antimicrobials at 50 mg per population correction unit (PCU), which could reduce 64% of consumption by 2030. 

 The second strategy is to limit global meat intake to 40 g per day, which is the equivalent of one fast-food burger per person. This would reduce 66% of antimicrobial consumption in food animals by 2030. 

 The third strategy is to impose a 50% user fee of the current price on veterinary antimicrobials, which could reduce 31% of global consumption. This policy would generate yearly revenues of $1.7 billion to $4.6 billion. 

Alternative user fee rates of 10% or 100% could reduce 9% or 46% of global consumption while generating $0.4 billion to $1.2 billion or $2.8 billion to $7.5 billion in revenues. more

Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030.

Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030. The amount of antimicrobials given to animals destined for human consumption is expected to rise by a staggering 52 percent and reach 200,000 tons by 2030 unless policies are implemented to limit their use, according to new research. 

 The researchers, from ETH Zürich, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, conducted the first global assessment of different intervention policies that could help limit the projected increase of antimicrobial use in food production. 

Their results, reported in the journal Science, represent an alarming revision from already pessimistic estimates made in 2010, pushed up mostly by recent reports of high antimicrobial use in animals in China. In modern animal farming, large quantities of antimicrobials are used for disease prevention and for growth promotion. 

"Globally, animals receive almost three times as many antibiotics than people, although much of this use is not medically necessary, and many new strains of antibiotic-resistant infections are now common in people after originating in our livestock," said co-author Emma Glennon, a Gates Scholar and PhD student at Cambridge's Department of Veterinary Medicine.Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030.

Reduce, replace and re-think the use of antimicrobials in animals.

 

 Reducing the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals, replacing them where possible and re-thinking the livestock production system is essential for the future of animal and public health.

 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world’s most pressing public health issues and the use of antimicrobials in animals contributes to this problem, so limiting their use to the minimum necessary to treat infectious diseases in animals is crucial. 

 Control strategies that have been important drivers for change include setting of national targets to reduce antimicrobial use. The use of antimicrobials in animals should be reduced to the minimum that is necessary to treat infectious diseases. Other than in exceptional cases, their use to prevent such diseases should be phased out in favour of alternative measures. 

 Critically important antimicrobials for human medicine should only be used in animals as a last resort. Alternatives to antimicrobials that have been shown to improve animal health and thereby reduce the need to use antimicrobials include vaccines, probiotics, prebiotics, bacteriophages and organic acids. 

 However, reducing the use of antimicrobials and finding alternatives is not enough. There is a need to re-think the livestock system by implementing farming practices that prevent the introduction and spread of the disease into farms and by considering alternative farming systems which are viable with reduced use of antimicrobials. 

Education and awareness of AMR should be addressed to all levels of society but in particular to veterinarians and farmers. 

 Experts concluded that it is reasonable to assume that reducing antimicrobial use in food-producing animals would result in a general decrease in antimicrobial resistance in the bacteria that they carry and the food products derived from them. 

However, they could not quantify the impact of single reduction measures or alternatives to antimicrobials on levels of antimicrobial resistance in food-producing animals and food due to lack of data. continue

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) :Poultry and the superbug MRSA.

A study has shown that novel form of the dangerous superbug Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can spread to humans through consumption or handling of contaminated poultry.

 The research, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, shows that poultry may be a source of human exposure to MRSA, a superbug which can cause serious infections and even death. The study focuses on a special newly identified strain of MRSA associated with poultry.

 MRSA is often found in chickens, pigs and other food animals. Researchers know that farmers, farm workers, veterinarians and others working directly with livestock are at risk of MRSA infections, however the study shows that people with no exposure to livestock are becoming colonized and infected with this new strain of poultry-associated MRSA -- most likely by eating or handling contaminated poultry meat. 

 This poultry-associated MRSA may be more capable of transmitting from food to people and as MRSA continues to evolve, it may spread from animals to people in new ways. Early research suggests that modern farming practices, that involve giving food animals low doses of antibiotics to spur their growth and compensate for overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions led to the rising tide of superbugs, like the new strain of MRSA identified in this study. 

 The fact that food inspectors don't typically test poultry and other food products for MRSA contamination and instead are focused on Salmonella and other more typical food-borne pathogens may be the reason why the link has remained undetected until now. 

There is a need to expand the number of pathogens that are tested for in the food supply chain, and an urgent need for international bodies to enforce the ban on unnecessary use of antibiotics on industrial farms around the world. 

 The indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock must be abolished to prevent emergence of new, and more virulent strains of livestock-associated MRSA which will pose a much greater threat to human health.continue

ANTIBIOTIC USE IN ANIMAL FEED AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's most pressing public health concern,the center for disease control and prevention records that 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths are caused each year by antibiotic- resistant bacteria in the US alone.

This has prompted president Obama to sign an executive order September 2014,launching federal efforts to combat the rise in antibiotic-resistance bacterial illness. The order resulted in the constitution of a task force,comprising of representatives of agriculture colleges,universities,pharmaceutical industry,animal agriculture community,veterinarians and other stakeholders,with the goal to advice the government on research agenda for alternatives to antibiotics in animal feed and to help publicly disseminate information on the effects of antibiotics in production agriculture,the group is to submit a report early February 2015. 

 Scientist,food processors,food retailers, veterinarians and some concerned citizens have shown concern about the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria referred to as superbugs in veterinary and human medicine.The W.H.O & C.D.C have expressed serious concern as well,that some bacteria have developed defenses against different classes of antibiotic compounds. 

The W.H.O has called antibiotic resistance a problem so serious that it threatens the achievement of modern medicine and if immediate actions are not initiated,the world might go back to "pre antibiotic era." The center for science and environment has reported that it has found some antibiotic residue in some chickens sampled in Delhi,India.

The center reports that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in poultry production has been linked to growing antibiotic resistance in Indians. India is currently experiencing a deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria epidemic,where tens of thousands of newborns are dying ;last year about 58,000 newborns died because medicine can no longer effectively treat bacterial infections, this has prompted the C.S.E to seek a ban on use of antibiotics in poultry.

Researchers have discovered superbugs carrying a genetic code first identified in India, in other countries such as France,Japan and U.S. All efforts must be geared towards the ban on antibiotics in animal feed,and also suitable alternatives must be initiated to achieve a healthy flock,optimum production and wholesome by-products.

There are some alternatives currently used by only few producers, such as the Atovi powder, probiotics,prebiotics, organic acids, inclusion of green algae and organic feed e.t.c if more producers imbibe other alternatives ,then superbugs era will soon be history. The superbugs effect has confirmed that;WE ARE WHAT WE FEED OUR ANIMALS. JOIN THE CHANGE MOVEMENT!!!! SAY NO TO ANTIBIOTICS IN ANIMAL FEED.