Oral

Antibiotic resistance increasingly appears to be a problem of public health nutrition. It also is a social justice issue in that the availability of effective antibiotics is a common good that can be eroded through the actions of individual or entities overusing antibiotics for individual gain. Conversely, the declining availability of inexpensive, effective antibiotics is a health determinant impacting societal healthcare costs, as well as disproportionately impacting underinsured and noninsured communities. Emergence of newly-resistant bacteria on farms and in food are heightening food safety concerns for consumers of conventional (grain-fed) meat, but also concerns for the health of farmers and farmworkers and surrounding communities. New science reinforces that a critical public health factor in newly resistant food pathogens is whether and which antibiotics are used on U.S. farms – routine non-therapeutic antibiotic use is a hallmark of industrial food animal production in the U.S., but not in European and other large meat-producing countries. Last summer, 21 cases of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella in Colorado coincided with a national ground beef recall, and the two are closely related to agricultural antibiotic use. This session will explore basic science and science policy around this issue. New research will be presented on the prevalence of high priority, multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens, like MRSA, in the US food supply. Data will be reviewed linking cephalosporin use in food animals with cephalosporin resistant salmonella in meat, including in recent Colorado Salmonella outbreaks. A third presentation lays out the policy context of food safety, agricultural antibiotics (PAMTA) and other relevant legislation before Congress. Through increased awareness and action on the use of antibiotics in food production, public health professionals can play a key role in protecting and promoting health.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe how antibiotic use in food animal production can impact human health. 2. Discuss the prevalence of high-priority antibiotic resistant bacteria in US retail meat and poultry. 3. Describe three reasons explaining why resistance to third-generation cephalosporins in S. Heidelberg is a public health concern. 4. Explain two reasons why antibiotic resistance and increasing links to antibiotic use in food animals can be seen as contributing to social disparities in health.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)