Aspects of antimicicrobial resistance in the intensive animal industries

Authors: Blackall PJ
Publication: Proceedings of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Annual Conferences, Volume 2014 AVA Annual Conference, Perth, Issue Public Health, May 2014
Publisher: Australian Veterinary Association

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Abstract: There has long been a concern that antibiotic usage in food animal production has the potential to impact on human health. Indeed, the emergence of this concern was probably first marked by the Swann Report1 in the UK. The Swann Report1 is most well known for recommending that antibiotics used in human medicine should not be used as group promoters. A key follow-on from the Swann Report 1 was the European Union ban on the use of four growth-promoting antibiotics (spiramycin, tylosin, zinc bacitracin and virginiamycin) from 1 July 1989.2 Despite these types of regulatory activities, there still remain concerns in some quarters about the use of antimicrobial agents in food-producing animals. In food animal production antibiotics are administered therapeutically on with some classes of drugs used for animal health belonging to the same classes as those used in human medicine. This has lead to some authors raising concerns about the development of resistance to key antibiotics.3 The intention of this paper is not to review the regulatory scene in Australia and in Australian food producing industries...

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