Evidence supports ban on growth promotion use of antibiotics in farming
The consequences of antibiotic resistance are great
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic-resistant infections cause longer and more expensive hospital stays, and greater risk of death. Each year in the US antibiotic-resistant infections result in $20 billion in additional health care costs and $8 million in costs in additional hospital days. If antibiotics are ineffective, patients may end up paying more in search of alternative drugs, and enduring a wider range of side effects.
Bans on the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics are effective in diminishing antibiotic resistance
- Bans in several European countries have led to decreases in antibiotic resistance. Bans in Denmark and Germany have not only decreased the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals, they have decreased the presence of these bacteria in humans.
- Alternative farming practices such as reducing animal crowding, improving hygiene, and improving use of vaccines have been shown to compensate for some of the growth benefits conferred by non-therapeutic antibiotics.
Levy and Marshall also highlight areas of study that may improve our understanding of the link between antibiotic use in animals and the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Modern genetic techniques are helping, they report, but there are still gaps in our understanding at each stage of the transmission chain.
Why should I worry about antibiotic resistance?
If you take antibiotics that cannot fight the bacteria they are supposed to kill, your infection can last longer. Instead of getting better, your infection might get worse. You might have to make several visits to your doctor’s office. You might have to take different medicines or go to a hospital to get stronger antibiotics given intravenously (through an IV needle into your vein).
At the same time, your family members or other people you come into contact with will be exposed to the resistant bacteria you have. Then these people might also develop infections that are hard to treat.
Every time you take antibiotics when you don’t need them or you do not take all of the antibiotics recommended by your doctor, you increase the chance that you will someday get an illness that is caused by resistant bacteria.
“Aquaculture, or fish farming, has been relatively understudied, yet water is a prime medium for the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” says first author Bonnie Marshall, MA, MT (medical technology), senior research associate in the Levy laboratory at Tufts University School of Medicine.
“While the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics remains contentious, the evidence is strong enough to merit precaution. Antibiotics save lives. When infections become resistant to primary antibiotics, and alternative antibiotics must be used, health care costs increase. As more infections become more resistant to more antibiotics, we run the risk of losing more of our arsenal of antibiotics, resulting in needless deaths. It’s important to consider what we stand to gain versus what we stand to lose,” concludes Levy.