Dubai enlists Nutricia for grassroots infant healthy-eating initiative

Dubai enlists Nutricia for grassroots infant healthy-eating initiative: Dubai health officials have called on Danone’s infant nutrition brand to support its drive to persuade parents to adopt health eating habits for their toddlers.

Magnesium may promote bone health and prevent fractures: Study

Magnesium may promote bone health and prevent fractures: Study: Healthy levels of magnesium in the body might decrease the risk of bone fractures, according to results of a study from the Universities of Bristol and Eastern Finland.

Study finds drugs in milking parlor water samples

Study finds drugs in milking parlor water samples: A Spanish study to monitor the presence of 19 active drugs in water samples collected from milking parlors of dairy farms located in Galicia (northwest Spain), discovered 65% of the samples tested positive for at least one of the compounds analyzed.

Antibiotic resistance will hit a terrible tipping point in 2017.

Antibiotic resistance will hit a terrible tipping point in 2017 according to New Scientist, as a major menace looms over us. In 2017, many more people could begin dying from common bacterial infections. as resistance to antibiotics booms, diseases from gonorrhoea to urinary tract infections are becoming untreatable – a situation that looks set to get worse as the world reaches a new tipping point. We are about to reach the point where more antibiotics will be consumed by farm animals worldwide than by humans according to Mark Woolhouse, at the University of Edinburgh, UK. This will mean more resistant bacteria, which could be a big threat. The livestock industry has long played down any risk to human health caused by using antibiotics in farming, but the danger is now accepted, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Colistin, a drug that is used more often in animals than people, is one example. It is now the only antibiotic left that works against some human infections, yet colistin resistance has developed, and spread worldwide in 2015. The European Medicines Agency says bacteria resistant to colistin probably arose in livestock, and that some EU countries could easily cut their use of this antibiotic 25-fold. Antibiotic resistance will hit a terrible tipping point in 2017,what to do

Flies, birds implicated in antibiotic resistant bacteria spread.

Flies, birds implicated in antibiotic resistant bacteria spread as new study has shown role of flies in spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.The study result shows that flies' ability to contaminate the environment has led to immense public health concerns In one study, the researchers found that 1% of hospital patients in two large cities in China were carrying colistin-resistant bacteria, despite the antibiotic not being used in human medicine.According to New Scientist, China has reserved colistin for veterinary use, with some 8,000 metric tons used each year, primarily in pig and poultry production. A ban on its use in the livestock industry will be enforced in China this month and colistin will begin to be used to treat people instead. The research team from Cardiff University, UK, has also been looking at resistant bacteria beyond the confines of hospitals. They found a quarter of E. coli bacteria sampled from chicken farms and from meat in grocery outlets was resistant to colistin, while a third was resistant to carbapenem. They also found high rates of bacteria with colistin- and carbapenam-resistant genes in dog feces on chicken farms and on flies at these farms, indicating that resistant bacteria have colonized beyond the farmed birds. The Cardiff team argues that flies’ ability to contaminate the environment has immense public health concerns and that fly transmission may be why hospital patients living far away from farms were not less likely to have a resistant infection during the summer than those living nearby. Wild birds, long associated with the spread of viral disease, may also be responsible for transmission.Resistant bacteria were also found in feces from swallows on farms in China, raising fears that they will carry these bacteria as they migrate, and potentially spreading resistance much further afield.

Implications of Litter Management in an Antibiotic Free Program.

Implications of Litter Management in an Antibiotic Free Program. The increasing number of antibiotic free (ABF) broiler facilities, there are a lot of opinions about how to be successful. While there are varying opinions about products that can take the place of antibiotics for improved health and growth promotion, much of the industry is in agreement that without antibiotics the role of house management becomes more crucial for success. While growers have been conventionally taught to manage a house from the ceiling down, the removal of antibiotics demands houses be managed from the floor up. It is largely litter condition during a chick’s first seven days of life that impacts health and performance by dictating the type of bacteria that develop in the gut which can greatly influence intestinal flora and the passage of maternal antibodies. Litter management for antibiotic free program has three basic stages: 1) during clean out.2) before placement. 3) during grow-out. While some say it’s best to entirely clean out litter between flocks, the cost, environmental impact and availability of replacement bedding material make that difficult at times. Not to mention that there are some advantages to growing birds on built up litter, such as the ability to better manage cocci load and introduce beneficial bacteria to the gut. If litter has been completely cleaned out, pad acidification will play a crucial role for antibiotic free operations . Pad Acidification Following Clean Out It’s important to understand, the longer birds have been raised in the house, the more ammonia is absorbed into the pad. As the ammonia content of the dirt pad goes up, so does the pH. As the pH shifts to levels above 7.5-8.0, the type of bacteria and other microbes that make up the typical flora of the dirt pad begins to shift into ones that aren’t good for poultry. Implications of Litter Management in an Antibiotic Free Program,continue

New York opts for birth control bait for rats.

Rodents are one of the least savory sights in America's largest city, spotted scurrying in and out of subway tracks or under the cover of darkness, darting around trash bags dumped on the street for collection. In 2015, the city invested nearly $3 million on rat control after receiving a record 24,000-plus complaints amid alarm bells that the city was losing the rat war. Officials are now preparing to launch a trial of a liquid bait which Arizona-based company SenesTech says makes rats infertile, but is otherwise non-toxic and does not damage the environment. City officials say there is no scientifically accurate way to count the rats of New York. SenesTech says four pairs of breeding adult rats and their progeny can produce up to 15 million rats in one year. New York opts for birth control bait for rats,read