Abstract
Organic pig production differs in many ways from conventional production of pigs, e.g., in antibiotic use, herd structure, feeding regimes, access to outdoor areas and space allowance per pig. This study investigated if these differences result in a lower occurrence of antibiotic resistance in organic slaughter pigs in Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden. Samples were taken from the colon content and/or faeces and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of ten antibiotics were determined in isolates of Escherichia coli. In addition, the proportion of tetracycline (TET) resistant E. coli in colon content and/or faeces from individual pigs was determined. In all four countries the percentage resistance to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulphonamides or trimethoprim was significantly lower in E. coli from organic pigs. In France and Italy, the percentage of isolates resistant to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid or gentamicin was also significantly lower in the E. coli from organic pigs. Resistance to cefotaxime, was not found in any country. The percentage of E. coli isolates resistant to TET as well as the proportion of TET-resistant E. coli was significantly lower in organic than in conventional pigs, except in Sweden where TET-resistance was equally low in both production types. There were also differences between countries within production type in the percentage resistance to individual antibiotics as well as the proportion of TET-resistant E. coli with lower median proportions in Sweden and Denmark compared to France and Italy. The study shows that in each of the four countries resistance in intestinal E. coli was less common in organic than in conventional pigs, but that there were also large differences in resistance between countries within each production type, indicating that both country- and production-specific factors influence the occurrence of resistance.
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance undermines the possibility to effectively treat bacterial diseases in humans and animals and it is one of the major global threats for the future [1]
In the French and Italian conventional production, chloramphenicol resistance was common (17% and 30%, respectively), while in Denmark and Sweden resistance to this antibiotic was detected with low frequency
The largest differences were detected in Italy, where the risk for resistance in isolates from conventional production was significantly higher than in organic production for all ten antibiotics except cefotaxime (OR range: 5.5–17.8)
Summary
Antibiotic resistance undermines the possibility to effectively treat bacterial diseases in humans and animals and it is one of the major global threats for the future [1]. Use of antibiotics causes a selection pressure favouring resistant bacteria and their spread in bacterial populations harboured by humans and animals and in the environment [1, 2]. Resistant bacteria that emerge among foodproducing animals can spread to humans, for example, along the food production chain [3, 4]. European monitoring activities show that there are large differences between countries in antibiotic resistance [8] and use [9]. Data from the different countries in these studies may not be fully comparable, a positive association between use of antibiotics and resistance in Escherichia coli from healthy food-producing animals is indicated [10,11,12]
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