Resistant germs due to antibiotic animal husbandry

MRSA germ Result of antibiotic use in animal husbandry

22/02/2012

The use of antibiotics in animal breeding promotes the development of multidrug-resistant pathogens. An international research team led by Lance Price of the Translational Genome Research Institute in Flagstaff (USA) has been able to show that at least one strain of multidrug-resistant strains of the staphylococcus genotype has been produced by the careless use of antibiotics in animal breeding.

The scientists found that the strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is widespread both in the US and in Europe, was caused by the improper use of antibiotics in animal husbandry. According to the study director Lance Price flourishes „Staphylococcus is best where living beings are crowded and live in poor hygienic conditions.“ Get antibiotics added under these circumstances, „is the problem programmed“, so the statement of the US researcher in the magazine „mbio“.

Researchers are decoding the formation of MRSA pathogens
In their current study, the researchers had examined the genetic material of 88 Staphylococcus aureus samples. The samples came from 19 countries on four continents and were taken not only by humans but also by livestock, such as pigs, turkeys and chickens. In this way, the relationship between the individual strains could be reconstructed and the researchers were able to determine when and where the MRSA germs developed their resistance. Price and colleagues found that the so-called CC398 variant of multidrug-resistant pathogens was transferred from humans to livestock and only then developed resistance to tetracyclines and methicillin, two important antibiotics. Subsequently, the pathogens of the MRSA strain jumped over again from the animal to man, which led due to the antibiotic resistance to hardly treatable serious diseases with some fatal outcome, the researchers explained. In the meantime, the pathogens are relatively widespread in Europe and the USA and pose a growing risk to the population.

According to the scientists, it was noticeable that most infectious diseases with the special MRSA strain affected people who had regular contact with livestock. So the suspicion was close to a connection. The researchers have now uncovered this fact by proving that the pathogens were first transferred from humans to the animals, where they developed their resistance through contact with antibiotics and subsequently jumped back onto humans. In other words, man is to blame for spreading the dangerous multidrug-resistant germs.

Man is to blame for the development of multidrug-resistant pathogens
According to Paul Keim from Northern Arizona University, who is also involved in the study, the current results clearly show that „neither nature nor the bacteria“ responsible for the development of resistance. The careless use of antibiotics in factory farming alone has led to the emergence of the dangerous MRSA strain. The current studies on the development of resistance in staphylococci are merely examples of the risk of antibiotic use in animal husbandry. Because other bacteria could develop the same resistance to the common antibiotics of human medicine in a similar way. Another shocking aspect, according to the researchers, was the observed spread of the CC398 variant of Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, the pathogens have been detected in the US on 47 percent of the examined meat samples from the trade.

Massive criticism of antibiotic use in animal husbandry
For years, the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry has been massively criticized by environmental protection associations, physicians, consumer and animal welfare organizations. For example, official studies from the past year have shown that in the poultry sector (turkeys and chickens) around 90 percent of the animals are given antibiotics during rearing. The latest published figures from Lower Saxony also show that in fattening pigs 77 percent of the animals were given antibiotics, fattening young cattle 80 percent and fattening calves 100 percent. The fattening farms are subject to the critics that they use the antibiotics contrary to the applicable laws not only for disease control, but also to promote growth and thus to shorten the fattening period. In addition, the antibiotics are sometimes given only one to two days, which further promotes the formation of resistant arousal. Because until all pathogens are dead by the antibiotics, six days can pass. If treatment is discontinued earlier and some bacteria survive contact with the antibiotic, this promotes the development of resistance. (Fp)

Read about:
Naturopathy: With coriander against bacteria
Multi-resistant germs on frozen chicken
The new super germ NDM-1
Resistant bacteria in German hospitals
Risk of infection in the hospital
Hospital germs: Staphylococci prefer blood
WHO warns of antibiotic resistance

Picture: Dr. Karl Herrmann