NAIROBI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A new study released on Thursday shows there is growing antimicrobial resistance in food animals, a situation that threatens the availability of animal protein, especially in low and middle income countries where demand for meat is increasing.
The study by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) reveals that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise globally, with animals consuming three times as many antibiotics as humans.
"In developing countries where veterinary antibiotic sales remain unregulated and feed is less nutritious compared to that in high income countries, rates of antibiotic resistance in animals have the potential to increase exponentially," says the study titled Global Trends in Antimicrobial resistance in animals in low and middle-income countries.
According to the study, although beneficial for short-term mass meat production, overconsumption of antibiotics in food animals has been linked to an increase in antibiotic resistant infections not only in animals, but also in humans.
"Animal production is increasing worldwide and the consequences of intensive use of antibiotics on resistance in animals are amply clear from our analysis. We have a small window of opportunity to help low and middle income countries transition to more sustainable farming practices," said study author Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of CDDEP.
The study found that the proportion of antimicrobial compounds in food animals that showed resistance higher than 50 percent (P50) increased overall between 2000 and 2018.
Among the developing countries included in the study, p50 increased from 0.15 to 0.41 in chickens and from 0.13 to 0.34 in pigs, while plateauing between 0.12 and 0.23 in cattle.
The highest rates of resistance were identified in antibiotics commonly used in food production, including tetracyclines, sulfonamides and penicillins.
