Vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics for food producing animals. Part 1: challenges and needs

Abstract

Vaccines and other alternative products can help minimize the need for antibiotics by preventing and controlling infectious diseases in animal populations, and are central to the future success of animal agriculture. To assess scientific advancements related to alternatives to antibiotics and provide actionable strategies to support their development, the United States Department of Agriculture, with support from the World Organisation for Animal Health, organized the second International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics. It focused on six key areas: vaccines; microbial-derived products; non-nutritive phytochemicals; immune-related products; chemicals, enzymes, and innovative drugs; and regulatory pathways to enable the development and licensure of alternatives to antibiotics. This article, part of a two-part series, synthesizes and expands on the expert panel discussions regarding opportunities, challenges and needs for the development of vaccines that may reduce the need for use of antibiotics in animals; new approaches and potential solutions will be discussed in part 2 of this series. Vaccines are widely used to prevent infections in food animals. Various studies have demonstrated that their animal agricultural use can lead to significant reductions in antibiotic consumption, making them promising alternatives to antibiotics. To be widely used in food producing animals, vaccines have to be safe, effective, easy to use, and cost-effective. Many current vaccines fall short in one or more of these respects. Scientific advancements may allow many of these limitations to be overcome, but progress is funding-dependent. Research will have to be prioritized to ensure scarce public resources are dedicated to areas of potentially greatest impact first, and private investments into vaccine development constantly compete with other investment opportunities. Although vaccines have the potential to improve animal health, safeguard agricultural productivity, and reduce antibiotic consumption and resulting resistance risks, targeted research and development investments and concerted efforts by all affected are needed to realize that potential.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13567-018-0560-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Autolyzed Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) Supplementation Improves Performance While Modulating the Intestinal Immune-System and Microbiology of Broiler Chickens

“…The search for antimicrobial replacements in the diets of broiler chickens is of paramount importance due to the recent restrictions in the use of antimicrobial growth promoters which is driven primarily by the increased incidence of antimicrobial resistance. In animal production systems, the restriction means only using antibiotic when necessary to protect the health of animals or humans (Hoelzer et al, 2018), and under a veterinarian prescription. However, according to the report "UK 5 Years Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013-2018" there is scientific evidences showing that the increase of clinical issues related to "superbugs" and antimicrobial resistance in humans is a result of the use of antimicrobial in humans, and not in animals.…”

“…However, according to the report "UK 5 Years Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013-2018" there is scientific evidences showing that the increase of clinical issues related to "superbugs" and antimicrobial resistance in humans is a result of the use of antimicrobial in humans, and not in animals. Regardless of this fact, prevention of subclinical and clinical diseases in poultry must rely on non-antibiotic alternatives and good management conditions (Hoelzer et al, 2018).…”

Impact of vaccines on antimicrobial resistance

“…In addition, the use of vaccines in farm animals continues to play an important role in preventing infection and reducing the use of antibiotics. Ongoing international public-private collaborations to improve animal vaccine options is key to fighting AMR (Hoelzer et al, 2018).…”

Foot-and-Mouth Disease in India: Past, Present and Future Outlook - A Review

“…Though, timely vaccinations reduce the incidence of the disease outbreaks and thereby reduction in antibiotic requirements for the treatment of animals for those conditions that may arise due to involvement of secondary bacterial infections during the disease outbreaks. Eventually, vaccinations help to reduce antibiotic residue in the food animals and its products [27].…”