The end of superbugs starts with better animal welfare

  12 May 2022

In 2019, more than a million people died globally due to common bacterial infections that were previously treatable with antibiotics. 

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites mutate so that they no longer respond to medication. It has become a leading cause of death worldwide, killing more people than AIDS or malaria.

‘Antimicrobial resistance is everywhere,’ said Dr Hein Imberechts, from the Sciensano research institute in Brussels, Belgium and scientific coordinator of the One Health European Joint Programme (EJP). ‘The real threat is not the resistance itself, it’s the misuse of antimicrobial drugs,’ he said.

The over-prescription of antimicrobial medications such as antibiotics and antifungals is largely responsible for the evolution of superbugs. These are types of pathogens that can survive and reproduce while drug-sensitive strains are wiped out.

It is a problem for animal health as well. Drug-resistant bacteria can infect livestock and poultry on farms, for example, and if animals can’t be treated, it can affect their growth, productivity or even lead to death.

 

Further reading: Horizon
Author(s): Sandrine Ceurstemont
Healthy Animals  
Back

OUR UNDERWRITERS

Unrestricted financial support by:

Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition

Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS & ASSOCIATIONS

BD





AMR NEWS

Every two weeks in your inbox

Because there should be one newsletter that brings together all One Health news related to antimicrobial resistance: AMR NEWS!

Subscribe

What is going on with AMR?
Stay tuned with remarkable global AMR news and developments!

Keep me informed