Several other countries have withdrawn the use of some classes of antibiotics or set up structures that regulate the use of selected antibiotics in animal production. These countries also moved a step further and banned the use of all essential antibiotics as prophylactic agents in 2011. This move was followed by Denmark, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and other European Union countries. Sweden is known to be the first country to ban the use of antimicrobials for non-therapeutic purposes between 1986 (for growth promotion) and 1988 (for prophylaxis). With the global threat of antibiotic resistance and increasing treatment failures, the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal production has been banned in some countries. Scientists at that time started looking for means of producing more meat at relatively cheaper costs resulting in the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. Use of antibiotic in animal productionĪntimicrobials’ use in animal production dates as far back as the 1910 when due to shortage of meat products, workers carried out protests and riots across America. Once these pathogens are in the human system, they could colonize the intestines and the resistant genes could be shared or transferred to the endogenous intestinal flora, jeopardizing future treatments of infections caused by such organisms. Resistant bacteria can be transferred from poultry products to humans via consuming or handling meat contaminated with pathogens. These resistant bacteria then multiply and become the dominating population and as such, are able to transfer (both horizontally and vertically) the genes responsible for their resistance to other bacteria. Generally, when an antibiotic is used in any setting, it eliminates the susceptible bacterial strains leaving behind those with traits that can resist the drug. In addition, there are also human health concerns about the presence of antimicrobial residues in meat, eggs and other animal products. This would result in treatment failures, economic losses and could act as source of gene pool for transmission to humans. The indiscriminate use of such essential antimicrobials in animal production is likely to accelerate the development of AR in pathogens, as well as in commensal organisms. A large number of such antimicrobials are considered to be essential in human medicine. A large diversity of antimicrobials, are used to raise poultry in most countries.
Chicken is the most commonly farmed species, with over 90 billion tons of chicken meat produced per year. Poultry is one of the most widespread food industries worldwide. The main reasons for the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals include prevention of infections, treatment of infections, promotion of growth and improvement in production in the farm animals.
The extent of usage is expected to increase markedly over coming years due to intensification of farming practices in most of the developing countries. In recent years, enough evidence highlighting a link between excessive use of antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial resistance from animals as a contributing factor to the overall burden of AR has emerged. However, the rapid surge in the development and spread of AR is the main cause for concern. This microbial resistance is not a new phenomenon since all microorganisms have an inherent capacity to resist some antibiotics. This chapter documents some of the studies on antibiotic usage in poultry farming with specific focus on some selected bacterial species, their economic importance to poultry farming and reports of resistances of isolated species from poultry settings (farms and poultry products) to essential antibiotics.Īntibiotic resistance (AR) which is defined as the ability of an organism to resist the killing effects of an antibiotic to which it was normally susceptible and it has become an issue of global interest. Poultry products are among the highest consumed products worldwide but a lot of essential antibiotics are employed during poultry production in several countries threatening the safety of such products (through antimicrobial residues) and the increased possibility of development and spread of microbial resistance in poultry settings. The use of antimicrobial agents in animal husbandry has been linked to the development and spread of resistant bacteria. It is known that worldwide, more than 60% of all antibiotics that are produced find their use in animal production for both therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes. The levels of multi-drug resistant bacteria have also increased. Over the past few decades, no major new types of antibiotics have been produced and almost all known antibiotics are increasingly losing their activity against pathogenic microorganisms. A surge in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance has become a major cause for concern.
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