Antibiotic Use in Agriculture and Its Consequential Resistance in Environmental Sources: Potential Public Health Implications

Abstract

Due to the increased demand of animal protein in developing countries, intensive farming is instigated, which results in antibiotic residues in animal-derived products, and eventually, antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is of great public health concern because the antibiotic-resistant bacteria associated with the animals may be pathogenic to humans, easily transmitted to humans via food chains, and widely disseminated in the environment via animal wastes. These may cause complicated, untreatable, and prolonged infections in humans, leading to higher healthcare cost and sometimes death. In the said countries, antibiotic resistance is so complex and difficult, due to irrational use of antibiotics both in the clinical and agriculture settings, low socioeconomic status, poor sanitation and hygienic status, as well as that zoonotic bacterial pathogens are not regularly cultured, and their resistance to commonly used antibiotics are scarcely investigated (poor surveillance systems). The challenges that follow are of local, national, regional, and international dimensions, as there are no geographic boundaries to impede the spread of antibiotic resistance. In addition, the information assembled in this study through a thorough review of published findings, emphasized the presence of antibiotics in animal-derived products and the phenomenon of multidrug resistance in environmental samples. This therefore calls for strengthening of regulations that direct antibiotic manufacture, distribution, dispensing, and prescription, hence fostering antibiotic stewardship. Joint collaboration across the world with international bodies is needed to assist the developing countries to implement good surveillance of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance.

Antimicrobial use and resistance in food-producing animals and the environment: an African perspective

“…It may takes a long while before implementation. The different approaches used in different countries leads to inconsistency results which are difficult to compare at national, regional and international perspectives [86]. The results reported do not conform to the international reporting systems since there is no appropriate system for data collection, identifications, coordination and reporting [90].…”

“…This coupled with low awareness on AMU and AMR is likely to further exacerbate the burden of AMR in the region. This review has revealed high prevalence of AMR, including MDR bacteria in the environment, probably associated with anthropogenic activities, application of manure in farming activities and agricultural wastes from community [61,69,85,86]. There is potential spillage of resistant isolates from sewage, humans, companion and domestic animals and industries to the environment [69,87].…”

TSPphg Lysin from the Extremophilic Thermus Bacteriophage TSP4 as a Potential Antimicrobial Agent against Both Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Pathogenic Bacteria

“…Currently, bacterial resistance has been reported in all WHO regions and identified for every antimicrobial drug developed to date [1,2]. In particular, the recent increase in bacterial strains showing resistance to almost all classes of antibiotics commonly used in human medicine has become a serious threat to public health worldwide [3,4]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop alternatives to conventional antibiotics for use in the treatment of infectious diseases.…”

Development of a multicomponent immunochromatographic test system for the detection of fluoroquinolone and amphenicol antibiotics in dairy products

“…Consequently, the systematic intake of antibiotic-containing food can have various adverse effects, such as allergic reactions, metabolic disorders, dysbiosis, suppression of enzyme activity, change in microflora, etc. 5 Moreover, the problem of the emergence and spread of multi-resistant forms of microorganisms currently exists on a global scale. 6 In this regard, the problem of the safety of livestock products is becoming increasingly important.…”