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Issue Brief

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Animals and Unnecessary Human Health Risks


Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Animals and Unnecessary Human Health Risks

Antibiotics on the Farm

In the United States, many food animals—poultry, swine and cattle—are routinely treated with antibiotics in order to grow animals faster and to compensate for unsanitary conditions on many industrial farms. Recently, major increases in antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in human populations have led to public health concerns regarding antibiotic use for non-therapeutic purposes (i.e., not used to treat disease) in animals destined for food production.1

Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time. To promote growth and weight gain, entire herds or flocks of farm animals are routinely fed antibiotics at low levels in their feed or water—a practice that has been identified as a contributor to antibiotic resistance.2 In addition, antibiotics are used to stave off disease in entire herds or flocks living in often crowded, unsanitary conditions.

Because there are currently minimal regulations requiring drug manufacturers or food animal producers to report how antibiotics are marketed and used in food animal production, the scale of antibiotic use in food animals is unknown. Estimates vary greatly on the amount of antibiotics fed to farm animals, but between 30 to 70 percent of all antibiotics and related drugs sold in the U.S.3 Poor data on animal drug production, distribution and resistance all unnecessarily contribute to the risks associated with developing resistant diseases in animals and humans.

Date added:
Feb 8, 2010
Contact:
Joshua Wenderoff, Tel: 202-540-6542
Project:
Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming
Topic:
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Related Expert:
Laura Rogers
References:
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References:

1 U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). 2004. Report to Congressional Requesters No. 04-490, ―Antibiotic Resistance: Federal Agencies Need to Better Focus Efforts to Address Risk to Humans from Antibiotic Use in Animals.
2 For more information on antibiotic resistance, please see Pew’s factsheet titled: ―Antibiotic Resistance and the Industrial Animal Farm.‖
3 The Animal Health Institute, a trade association representing drug manufacturers, uses the 30% figure. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates use as closer to 70 percent. The Institute of Medicine estimated in 1985 that subtherapeutic use in cattle, swine and poultry totaled 16.1 million pounds, or more than half of all antimicrobials produced at that time.
4 GAO, 2004, Op cit.
5 Keep Antibiotics Working, ―In Depth: Fluoroquinolones: Unnecessary Risks,‖ accessed 7/1/08. 
6 Smith, K.E, et al. 1999. Quinolone-resistant Campylobacter jejuni infections in Minnesota, 1992-1998. New England Journal of Medicine. 340(20): 1525-1532.
7 O’Brien, T., et al. 1982. Molecular epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella from animals and human beings in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine. 307(1):1-6.
8 GAO, 2004, Op cit.
9 UN FAO, OIE, and WHO, ―Joint FAO/OIE/WHO Expert Workshop on Non-Human Antimicrobial Usage and Antimicrobial Resistance: Scientific Assessment,‖ Presented in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 1-5, 2003.
10 Roberts, R.R., et al. 2009. Hospital and Societal Costs of Antimicrobial-Resistant Infections in a Chicago Teaching Hospital: Implications for Antibiotic Stewardship. Clinical Infectious Diseases 49:1175–84.
11 Graham JP, Boland JJ, Silbergeld E. ―Growth promoting antibiotics in food animal production: an economic analysis.‖ Public Health Rep 2007; 122:79-87; and Miller GY, Algozin KA, McNamara PE, Bush EJ. ―Productivity and economic effects of antibiotics use for growth promotion in U.S. pork production.‖ Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 2003; 35:469-482.

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