“One of the greatest threats to global health”
More and more antibiotics are being used in chickens – which can also be dangerous for humans
Quelle: Getty Images/Westend61
Every year around 1.3 million people worldwide die from infections because their antibiotics are no longer effective. The substances are also administered to livestock in large quantities. Researchers are now showing that the more this happens in breeding, the more frequently multi-resistant pathogens appear – with fatal consequences.
Wo Farm animals receiving large amounts of antibiotics are also more likely to develop antibiotic-resistant germs in humans – and vice versa. An international team of researchers found this connection when analyzing worldwide data on antibiotic use and resistance. Almost 100,000 tons of antibiotics for animal breeding are sold every year, writes the group led by Laith Yakob from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of London in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health.
Antibiotics are substances that act against bacteria. However, through genetic changes, the pathogens can develop resistance to the active ingredients, which they can also pass on to other types of bacteria. In the case of resistance to several or even all available antibiotics, one speaks of multi-resistant pathogens. The WHO estimates that around 1.3 million people now die every year because antibiotics do not work on their infections.
The EU health authority ECDC reported at the end of 2022 that more than 35,000 people die every year in the European Economic Area due to antibiotic resistance. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around 2,500 people die every year in Germany from multi-resistant pathogens alone, plus thousands of deaths as a result of individual resistance. Avoiding unnecessary and incorrect applications as far as possible is considered an important measure against the spread of resistance.
Yakob and colleagues examined various influences on antibiotic resistance. They built what they say is the most comprehensive database on antibiotic resistance from multiple sources. They also used population, environmental and socioeconomic data from the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) databases. In extensive statistical analyzes they found various correlations.
The investigations confirmed the basic trend that antibiotic-resistant germs are more common in people in a region, the more antibiotics are administered to them. The same applies to livestock beef, pork and chicken. According to the evaluation, these two areas are also connected: on average, a higher dose of antibiotics in farm animals is associated with a significantly higher value for resistant germs in humans. Conversely, there is also a statistical connection between the consumption of antibiotics in humans and resistant germs in livestock.
In Germany, the level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is below average in a global comparison – despite a very high use of antibiotics in animal husbandry. The researchers conclude from such deviations that there are other factors. According to this, antibiotic-resistant germs are more common in a country, for example, the higher the death rate due to inadequate hygiene measures. Resistant pathogens are also more common the lower the gross domestic product is.
“Designing interventions around this holistic picture of resistance will be critical to addressing what has quickly become one of the greatest threats to global health,” says Yakob. The researchers recommend stricter country guidelines and regulations for the use and prescribing of antibiotics in animals and humans. In addition, with regard to antibiotics, government governance, transparency and accountability should be improved, particularly in countries with the highest burden of disease.
A study presented in January showed that antibiotic residues are potential resistance hotspots, especially in water bodies in India, China and other Asian countries. Wastewater and sewage treatment plants seem to be the main sources for the development of antibiotic resistance in these regions, as the team led by Nada Hanna from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm explains in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health.
Antibiotics can get into rivers, lakes, seas and groundwater from sewage and waste, for example from municipalities, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Humans and animals treated with such drugs excrete a significant part of the substances in biologically active form via urine and faeces. In the Western Pacific (WPR, including China) and Southeast Asian (SEAR, including India) regions defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80 to 90 percent of wastewater enters water bodies untreated, the analysis said.
Resistance to such drugs is now one of the most common causes of death worldwide. With more antibiotic residues in the environment, the risk of the emergence of other resistant pathogens and new resistance pathways increases. China and India are among the world’s largest producers and consumers of antibiotics.
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