Playing chicken with antibiotics: Antibiotic use in food animals

All uses of antibiotics contribute to drug resistance, and research clearly shows that resistant bacteria from food animals contribute to the problem. A focus on only the human use of antibiotics ignores many other contributors of resistant bacteria. Antibiotics are available over the counter and are routinely and consciously administered to healthy food animals in the U.S. at levels designed to increase production, but not to treat specific pathogens. There were 16.4 million kgs of antibiotics sold in the US in 2009 and 13.1 million kgs were sold for use in food producing animals, of which 90% were administered in livestock food or water. Non-treatment use of these drugs in food animals creates a large reservoir for the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. The World Health Organization recommends veterinary oversight of antibiotics critical for human medicine that are used in food animals and a national surveillance system to monitor antibiotic use and resistance. Such a system has not been instituted in the U.S. despite several proposed legislative and regulatory solutions as well as government oversight reports endorsing such actions. This portion of the session will focus on a public health veterinary perspective including a short history of tracking antibiotic use in food animals, voluntary efforts by the private sector, recent attempts to monitor and mitigate through laws and policies, and the beneficial impact that passage of laws may have on public health. A collaborative effort by all major users of antimicrobials here and abroad is needed to address the growing problem of antibiotic resistant pathogens.