Experts raise alarm over medicine resistance in animals
By KNA, May 23, 2024Experts on animal welfare have sounded an alarm over a possible increase in cases of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Antimicrobials are agents used to prevent the possibility of contracting infections while AMR is the inability of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites to respond to antimicrobial medicines.
Key among the concerns by experts is the heavy and unregulated use of antibiotics by farmers to treat, prevent or control infections in animals which they claim if left unchecked will result in antibiotics resistance and increase the risk of disease spread and deaths.
According to Dr Patrick Muinde (pictured), the research manager at the World Animal Protection, 75 per cent of all antibiotics produced globally are used in the livestock production sector. Dr Muinde has warned that unless stakeholders in the food production sector advocate for responsible use of antibiotics among farmers, the country could be slipping into a silent pandemic.
Market weight
“Antibiotics are currently being used in poultry and pork production for the purposes of ensuring that the animals attain market weight faster. There are also cases where farmers have been known to administer antibiotics to their animals as a preventive measure without consulting veterinary doctors,” said Dr Muinde.
“When you do this you are giving bacteria or pathogens in those animals an opportunity to learn about the antibiotic and to start developing a mechanism to be resistant against the antibiotics. The moment you ingest that animal product, you introduce sub-doses of the antibiotics into your body. Since these small doses are not able to kill the bacteria, when you fall sick and medication is administered you don’t get better because your body has already developed drug resistance,” he added.
His concerns are backed by findings released by the World Health Organisation in 2023 which termed AMR as one of the top global public health and development threats.
According to WHO, AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019.
While releasing the advisory, WHO noted that in addition to watering down the gains of modern medicine, AMR will have a catastrophic effect on the global economy, including huge increases in health expenditures. In their projections, the UN body said that the total expenses incurred for the treatment of resistant bacterial infections alone could reach USD 412 billion annually by 2035.
– KNA