Industrial food animal production, antimicrobial resistance, and human health.
Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health crisis, eroding the discovery of antimicrobials and their application to clinical medicine. There is a general lack of knowledge of the importance of agricultural antimicrobial use as a factor in antimicrobial resistance even among experts in medicine and public health. This review focuses on agricultural antimicrobial drug use as a major driver of antimicrobial resistance worldwide for four reasons: It is the largest use of antimicrobials worldwide; much of the use of antimicrobials in agriculture results in subtherapeutic exposures of bacteria; drugs of every important clinical class are utilized in agriculture; and human populations are exposed to antimicrobial-resistant pathogens via consumption of animal products as well as through widespread release into the environment.
Silbergeld
Ellen K
EK
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. esilberg@jhsph.edu
Graham
Jay
J
Price
Lance B
LB
D000821:Animal Feed; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005503:Food Additives; D005523:Food Supply; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000009:adverse effects; D011634:Public Health
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D005503:Food Additives