Curb use of drugs in farm animals, WHO advises
| CMAJ 2000;163(6):751 | See: eLetters |
The World Health Organization wants farmers to curtail and monitor their use of antimicrobial chemicals in food animals in an effort to slow the proliferation of drug-resistant forms of disease-causing bacteria.
The tough new measures call for obligatory prescriptions for all antimicrobial agents used for disease control in farm animals, as well as national systems to monitor the use of these products.
"In the last few years, evidence of the range of public health risks associated with the use of antimicrobials has grown stronger," says Dr. David Heymann, executive director of the WHO program on communicable diseases. "With the adoption of these principles, we have taken a major step to reduce these risks on a global scale." The guidelines, set at a June meeting of more than 70 experts, also advise veterinarians to reduce overuse and misuse of antimicrobial agents.
Overuse and misuse of these drugs has been shown to contribute to new, drug-resistant forms of disease-causing bacteria. These bacteria can then be transmitted to humans, primarily via food, and the resulting infections can be unresponsive to conventional treatment and difficult to cure.
For example, an antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella bacteria in food animals in Europe, Asia and North America has caused diarrhea, sepsis and death in humans. — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ
© 2000 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
