Antimicrobial reistance in Animal sector

Abstract

The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenomenon in bacteria is in existence well before the discovery of present-day antibiotics, but the rapidity of its development in bacteria is a cause of great concern as it renders the antibiotics ineffective for therapeutic use in human health and animal health. Antimicrobial use (AMU) is one of the main drivers for AMR in bacteria. The global consumption of antimicrobials in the animal sector is phenomenally increasing at great proportions, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feeds for improved animal productivity is a cause of great concern. The AMR is transferrable among bacterial species across the human, animal, and environmental sectors. The AMR in animals has not received much-required attention compared to the human counterparts. As global AMR surveillance network for animals is not available, point prevalence surveys are employed to map AMR in animals. Considerable geographic variation in antibiotic resistance levels is observed in foodborne pathogens, viz., Escherichia coli, Campylobacter species, non-typhoidal Salmonella serotypes, and Staphylococcus aureus. Certain classes of antibiotics are listed as critically important in both human medicine and veterinary medicine. Therefore, the rational use of antimicrobials is the need of the hour as antibiotics are indispensable tools in animal health too. In animal sector, the increased AMR is responsible for the financial losses due to higher mortality of animals, reduced productivity, and early culling of breeding and production animals, effecting the livelihoods of livestock and poultry farmers.