Tag Archives: antibiotic use

Antibiotics in our food, Food-borne illness

Antibiotics in the foods we eat: Why the drugs are losing their power

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called for an end to the nontherapeutic use of drugs in animals that are used to treat human disease. Why? The short answer is giving healthy livestock these drugs breeds superbugs that can infect people.

Here’s a great explanation from the Union of Concerned Scientists: “Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics through overexposure to them. Hardy strains of the bacteria survive the exposure and pass on that resistance trait to successive generations. And they also pass the trait across to other bacteria that are unrelated, including some that cause human disease. Eventually the antibiotic wipes out all the vulnerable bacteria, and only resistant bacteria remain. Then the drug is no longer effective.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started testing retail meat and poultry for antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 1996. It was not until 2008, however, that Congress required companies to report the quantity of antibiotics they sold for use in agriculture to the FDA. Why is that so important? According to a report from the New York Times, “In 2011, drugmakers sold nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics for livestock — the largest amount yet recorded and about 80 percent of all reported antibiotic sales that year. The rest was for human health care.”

That’s right, 80 percent of antibiotics are being used for livestock! That means the meat and poultry we humans eat give resistant bacteria a direct route to us — right through the grocery store and into our kitchens. But combating resistance requires monitoring both the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our food, as well as the use of antibiotics on livestock.

In March of this year, McDonald’s announced a plan to require chicken suppliers to stop using antibiotics important to human medicine within two years. Chicken supplier Tyson Inc. reported they’ll also stop giving chickens the same antibiotics used by humans; Tyson noted it has reduced the use of antibiotics effective in humans by more than 84 percent since 2011. The National Chicken Council also released a statement that says chicken producers have been working to phase out the use of antibiotics important in human medicine to promote growth in animals.

Restaurant chains Chipotle and Panera already say they serve chicken raised without antibiotics, but the announcement by McDonald’s is notable because of its size. McDonald’s has more than than 35,000 locations on Earth, and the U.S. has the highest concentration of them — about one for every 20,000 residents according to The Guardian’s Datablog. Compare that to Chipotle’s nearly 1,800 U.S. locations and Panera’s almost 1,900 U.S. locations.

There is more than enough scientific evidence to justify curbing the rampant use of antibiotics for livestock, yet the food and drug industries are fighting proposed legislation to reduce these practices. What do you think about antibiotic use in agriculture and livestock? Should they all move to using drugs that are not considered medically important for humans? Share your insights now in the comments section.

 

Superbugs

Bacteria that antibiotics can’t beat? We get to the gut of the matter.

Intestines Sketch

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) are a serious problem throughout the world. There’s a growing recognition that surgical knives and operating rooms aren’t the only things that need a thorough cleaning. Spots like bed rails and even television remote controls in a hospital room can be highly contaminated. In fact, call buttons and bed trays are among the worst offenders. Bacteria can survive for extended periods of time on common healthcare “touch” surfaces. And it only takes a minute for a nurse or visitor with dirty hands to walk into a room, touch a vulnerable patient with germy hands, and undo the benefits of cleaning.

The emergence of a nasty strain of an intestinal bug called Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, triggered a renewed emphasis on hospital hygiene a decade ago. The diarrhea-causing C-diff superbug colonizes in the intestine and produces toxins that attack the gut, causing severe complications and sometimes death. Nearly 30,000 U.S. deaths annually are linked to C-diff. Complicating matters, a new strain of C-diff has emerged (NAP/0127). First identified in Canada, it produces a more severe colon infection that has now spread to all 50 U.S. states.

Why is C-diff worse than other hospital superbugs? They’re very difficult to clean away. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t work and C-diff can persist on hospital room surfaces for days. The CDC recommends hospital staff clean their hands rigorously with soap and water. Or better yet, wear gloves. And rooms should be cleaned intensively with bleach.

Many patients also get C-diff infections as an unintended consequence of taking antibiotics for other illnesses. “Good” bacteria, normally found in a person’s intestines, help keep C-diff under control, allowing the bug to live in the gut without causing illness. But when a person takes antibiotics, both good and bad bacteria are suppressed—allowing C-diff to grow out of control because it’s resistant to most antibiotics that are used to treat common infections.

The rise of the C-diff superbug, along with increased pressure from the government and insurers, is driving hospitals to try all sorts of new approaches to stop their spread. Germ-resistant copper bed rails, call buttons and IV poles. Antimicrobial linens, curtains and wall paint. Cleaning machines that resemble Star Wars robots and emit ultraviolet light or hydrogen peroxide vapors. Insurers are also pushing hospitals to do a better job and the government’s Medicare program has even moved to stop paying bills for certain infections caught in the hospital.

If you get a C-diff infection, what can be done? One fairly new treatment is a fecal transplant. Yes, you read that right, and it’s just what it sounds like. A stool sample of a healthy relative is liquefied and infused into the colon of a sick patient via a colonoscopy or enema. The goal is to repopulate the infected patient’s intestines with healthy bacteria and so far it’s been highly successful. There’s a great video story about it here.

We’re facing the demise of our most effective means to treat disease because we’re overusing antibiotics. We need to treat them not as a commodity, but a valuable medicine. Enforced cleaning and sanitary precautions will go a long way to preventing infection, too. If you’re ever a patient, you can play a role by washing their own hands. And if a nurse or visitor stops by, tell them to wash their hands!

You can also download a report from the The U.S. Department for Health & Human Resources about preventing and treating C-diff infections here.