Thursday, November 01, 2012

What is the problem?



The medical profession is becoming increasingly worried about the global death toll from infections such as MRSA and E.coli caused by drug resistant bacteria.
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As they have become widely available, ‘more and more antibiotics have been consumed for less and less benefit in many settings’ Chris Butler, a professor at Cardiff University and dean of research in the School of Medicine, wrote recently.
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He said this indiscriminate overuse is driving antibiotic resistance, making some infections ‘almost impossible to treat’, adding there is little in the ‘pipeline of new antibiotics’.
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It is a global concern.
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We have heard plenty about indiscriminate human use
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How about misusing with animals?
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Is farming to blame?
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A significant contribution comes from over-reliance on routine use of antibiotics in farming.
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In particular, their ‘inappropriate use’ in intensive, or ‘factory’ farming.
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Nearly 50 per cent of all antibiotics are used in farming, with most pigs, poultry and dairy cows receiving antibiotics routinely, or prophylactically.
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Whether or not they are unwell.
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The practice is ‘a mask for poor animal welfare’, animals are fed antibiotics to compensate for the suppression of their immune systems.
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And this is brought on by overcrowding, early weaning, high stress and other aspects of these ‘unnatural production systems’.
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Farm animals are becoming breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella, campylobacter and E.coli.
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Farm animals are harbouring antibiotic-resistant strains of MRSA which could become virulent.
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There is today a diminishing effectiveness in human medicine of critically important antibiotics such as cephalosporins.
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There are three ways antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be transmitted from farm animals to humans:
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Through people working with animals or raw meat.
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Through the food chain, if meat or eggs are incorrectly cooked.
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Via the air, water or soil. 
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Animals excrete a significant amount of the antibiotics they are administered.
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This makes their manure a potential source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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And this in turn can enter soil and groundwater.
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The problem is most serious where the same classes of antibiotics are used in animal and human medicine.
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There is data showing considerable overlap in certain categories, for example, tetracycline, sulphonamides and aminoglycocides.
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There are also dangers of common usage in the cephalosporin and fluoroquinolone categories.
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What is the evidence for these statements?
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The most commonly cited example of transmission of farm antibiotic resistance to humans is the case in Dutch pigs of a new strain of MRSA, the most feared multi-resistant ‘superbug’.
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The first recorded cases of human colonisation by MRSA ST398, or ‘pig’ MRSA, were in 2004/5 in a Dutch baby girl and her parents, who were pig farmers. 
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It is now estimated half of Dutch pig farmers are carrying the new strain - 760 times the national average.
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In June 2011, medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases documented a new strain of MRSA in bulk milk from English dairy farms.
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Tests suggested 27 out of 42 suspected human MRSA cases in England and Scottish cases had been caused by the new MRSA. 
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And so it goes on the pursuit of money over any other consideration.
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Anything else to say?
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No, you have heard it all before.
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Just make wise choices where you can.

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