Picking up Antimicrobial Drug Resistance through Chicken Consumption

We have read a lot about antibiotics and how their misuse has affected so many people over the years, but what if we try not to take excessive antibiotics through medications and still pick them up through what we eat? Antibiotics have been a great human medicine over the years, and they have also been used a lot for livestock welfare.

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Antimicrobial phenomena have been reported since the discovery of antibiotics, the moment antibiotics get administered, susceptible bacteria get eliminated, favoring the selection of resistant strains.
Regardless of how good antibiotics are, the misuse of antimicrobials in any situation will lead to the development of antibiotic resistance. The use of antimicrobials has tremendously increased particularly in terms of poultry production. These antibiotics serve as growth promoters, prophylaxis, and therapy.

The excessive use of antibiotics for poultry production has become the leading cause of resistance development in bacteria. Several pathogenic bacteria reside in the intestinal tract of animals, they get transmitted to humans through fecal material or food chain, as they become a source of public health problems.

Disposing of animal wastes in the form of manure is a good source of transmission of resistant pathogens, straight from animal farms to the soil. This act has significantly increased over the years and we now have an increased concentrated animal feeding practices, this has caused resistant bacteria and antimicrobial residue to accumulate in the soil and proliferate antibiotic resistance in soil inhibited by bacteria.

The human population continues to increase, rendering food security has become a serious concern too, and food production must be increased in a manner that will cover the needs of the population. Animal food products, which include meat plays a significant role when it comes to the human diet. Research has shown that the demand for foodstuff has consistently risen over and over through the years, and even the consumption of meat has increased by over 4 folds when compared with the last 50 years.

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Poultry has become one of the most widely consumed meat all over the world, it is the second most produced and consumed meat in EU, while pork is the first. The introduction of antibiotics created a drastic change in the world of medicine as it came with a strong power to fight against bacterial infections, creating an increase in the average life expectancy of both humans and animals as it has been used on them. The problem with antibiotics lies in their extensive use, now we have multidrug-resistant microorganisms that have emerged and disseminated, which has now become a major global concern.

WHO came up with a global plan focused on five objectives that would hopefully help with this antimicrobial situation;

• To improve the awareness of antimicrobial drug resistance.

• To reduce the occurrence of infection through an effective method of sanitation.

• To strengthen existing knowledge on the topic through surveillance and research.

• To increase the investment in the development of new medicines.

• To optimize the use of antimicrobials in both animals and humans.

For Further Studies

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10141167/

https://www.glamac.com/blog/antibiotic-resistance-in-poultry-industry-history-background/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876034124003265

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8565894/

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/chicken-farms-breeding-ground-for-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria

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Hi, I am Tobi a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. Want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can listen and watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.