Fwd: [S-A] Animal Antibiotics Speed Resistance in People

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mistylyn trepke

Sat, 14 Jun 2003 06:23:59 -0700 (PDT)

[s-A] Animal Antibiotics Speed Resistance in People

 

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Misty

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Animal Antibiotics Speed Resistance in People

Tue Apr 23, 5:28 PM ET

 

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & u=/nm/20020423/hl_nm/animals_antobio\

tics_1

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The use of antibiotics on farm animals is

hastening drug resistance among humans, a new study concludes.

 

The growing worldwide resistance to antibiotics has limited the

arsenal of infectious disease-fighting drugs and is emerging as a

major public health problem. One reason is the use of the drugs when

they are not necessary. But many experts also believe that the

widespread antibiotic use by livestock farmers to promote growth is

contributing to the trend.

 

The trouble starts when bacteria, living in livestock, become

resistant to an antibiotic due to repeated exposure. Humans then pick

up the resistant bacteria when they eat or handle contaminated meat.

 

To investigate, the team of researchers developed a mathematical

model to establish whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship

between the use of antibiotics among livestock and resistance in

humans, and to estimate the effect of using the same antibiotic in

livestock and humans.

 

According to the results, published in the April 30th issue of the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites),

agricultural antibiotic use has a small effect on the prevalence of

drug-resistant bacteria overall. However, it may accelerate the rate

at which resistance develops in humans.

 

" Animal antibiotic use has an early but important impact on the

emergence of antibiotic resistance in (humans), " according to Dr.

David L. Smith from the University of Maryland in Baltimore, and

colleagues.

 

The findings suggest that restricting the use of antibiotics in farm

animals could reduce the rate of antibiotic resistance among humans.

 

" Regulating early agricultural antibiotic use would likely extend the

period that a drug can be used effectively in humans and reduce the

demands for new antibiotics, " the authors conclude.

 

The results of the study lend support to recent efforts to curb the

use of certain drugs among livestock. Last month, several large US

poultry producers said they were banning fidyl use of an antibiotic

for chickens and turkeys amid rising consumer concerns that it may

harm humans.

 

In February, a bill was introduced that would ban the nontherapeutic

use in animals of many drugs that are also prescribed to humans, in

the US. The banned drugs include penicillin, tetracycline and

Cipro--a type of fluoroquinolone.

 

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2002;99:6434-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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