Posted September 20, 2013
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
recently released a report on the threats of antibiotic resistance, connecting
the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals with antibiotic-resistant
foodborne pathogens. The CDC report is
available here.
The report categorizes and addresses 18 resistant
microorganisms into three threat levels of urgent, serious, and concerning,
using factors such as health impact, economic impact, 10-year projections and
barriers to prevention, according to a Food Safety News article available here. According to the report, while the majority
of drug-resistant infections occur in healthcare settings, “concern is growing
over antibiotic-resistant infections from food.” Six foodborne illnesses were noted:
Clostridium difficile, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Salmonella Typhi, Shingella,
and Staphylococcus aureus.
Antibiotics are commonly used to “promote the growth of
food-producing animals and to prevent, control and treat disease.” Overuse, however, can promote
antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the food supply and cause resistant infections
in humans.”
The report states, “Because of the link between
antibiotic use in food-producing animals and the occurrence of
antibiotic-resistant infections in humans, antibiotics should be used in
food-producing animals only under veterinary oversight and only to manage and
treat infectious diseases, not promote growth.”
CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said, “We continue to
promote the concept that, if an animal is sick, using antibiotics to treat the
animal is obviously important…We also know that there are specific situations
in which the widespread use of antimicrobials in agriculture has resulted in an
increase in resistant infections in humans.”
Politico reports that Robert Tauxe, deputy director of
the CDC’s foodborne, waterborne, and environmental disease division, said a
study released in June “shows how the resistance to an important antibiotic can
flow from the agricultural sector through food and it’s not theoretical at
all.” The CDC study is available here. The Politico article is available here.
In completing this study, government and university
researchers say they “collected thousands of bacteria samples from cattle,
swine, turkeys, processed meat, and people in the U.S. and Canada over a
five-year period.” They “tracked the
same antibiotic-resistant genes in animals directly to the meat sold in grocery
stores and to the people who ate the meat.”
Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council,
said that most of the “antibiotics traditionally relied on by poultry producers
have been banned by the FDA for the use on chickens and turkeys.” David Warner, spokesman for the National Pork
Producers Council, said the pork industry “is judicious with is use of
antibiotics.”
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) called on the Obama
administration to take action in light of the CDC report in a press release,
available here. Rep. Slaughter introduced the Preservation of
Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act in March and co-sponsored the Delivering
Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals Act, which was introduced in
February.
