December 30, 2013

 
Antibiotics over-use may create global health crisis
 

The latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine stated that the over-use of antibiotics by the agriculture and aquaculture industries is posing a threat to public health, and the way out is to impose a fee on their 'non-human use'.

According to the report, a good 80% of the antibiotics in the US, for instance, are used in agriculture and aquaculture to increase food production. The antibiotics released by these industries into the environment - either sprayed on plants or fed to poultry and salmon - have led bacteria to evolve, writes Aidan Hollis of the University of Calgary.

Due to this release, resistant pathogens are emerging, resulting in an increase in bacteria that are immune to available treatments, says Hollis and co-author Ziana Ahmed.

Holiis contends that if the problem is left unchecked, it will create a health crisis on a global scale. Bacteria that can effectively resist antibiotics will thrive, Hollis adds, reproducing rapidly and spreading in various ways.

Hollis says that the use of antibiotics as a 'low-value application' in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors is intended to reduce the amount of grain they feed the cattle.

While these methods are profitable to the farmers, they do not generate huge benefit, says Hollis, adding that the real value of antibiotics is saving people from dying.

Hollis says the way out is to impose a user fee on the non-human uses of antibiotics, which he believes, will encourage farmers to improve animal management methods and adopt better substitutes for the drugs, such as vaccinations.