Animal growth promoters: to ban or not to ban? A risk assessment approach.
The use of antibiotics for animal growth promotion has been controversial because of the potential transfer of antibiotic resistance from animals to humans. Such transfer could have severe public health implications in that treatment failures could result. We have followed a risk assessment approach to evaluate policy options for the streptogramin-class of antibiotics: virginiamycin, an animal growth promoter, and quinupristin/dalfopristin, a antibiotic used in humans. Under the assumption that resistance transfer is possible, models project a wide range of outcomes depending mainly on the basic reproductive number (R(0)) that determines the potential for person-to-person transmission. Counter-intuitively, the benefits of a ban on virginiamycin were highest for intermediate values of R(0), and lower for extremely high or low values of R(0).
Kelly
L
L
Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Centre for Epidemiology and Risk Analysis, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK.
Smith
D L
DL
Snary
E L
EL
Johnson
J A
JA
Harris
A D
AD
Wooldridge
M
M
Morris
J G
JG
D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000254:growth & development*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D025361:Streptogramins / Q000494:pharmacology; D014769:Virginiamycin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D006133:Growth Substances; D025361:Streptogramins; D014769:Virginiamycin; C062940:quinupristin-dalfopristin