Page 38 of articles about antimicrobial

According to the figures made public by the Agricultural Economic Institute (LEI), antibiotics use in the intensive livestock industry in the Netherlands has come down in 2009.

In 2009, the total antimicrobial consumption in pigs was 103.7 tonnes active substance, representing an 11% increase from 2008, while the consumption increased by 12% when measured in doses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidance intended to help reduce the development of resistance to medically important antimicrobial drugs used in food-producing animals. The draft guidance outlines the FDA’s current thinking on strategies to assure that antimicrobial drugs that are important for therapeutic use in humans are used judiciously in animal agriculture. The FDA acknowledges the efforts to date by various veterinary and animal producer organizations to institute guidelines for the judicious use of antimicrobial drugs, but the agency believes additional steps are needed.

The Minister of Agriculture, Henrik Høegh, and the Minister of the Interior and Health, Bertel Haarder, have announced the start of a joint plan of action to minimize antimicrobial resistance.

The Dutch Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Gerda Verburg, declared at the end of a recent government meeting that the use of antibiotics in livestock will have to be reduced by half in the next three years to reach the levels of 1999, and at least by 20% in 2011.

During the years 2004 to 2007, 26 Member States submitted information on the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria originating from poultry, pigs and cattle as well as from meat to the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In addition, Norway and Switzerland provided information for the report.

The annual MARAN report, published in early April, indicates that the use of antibiotics on farm animals in the Netherlands decreased in 2008 for the first time after several years of increasing use.

In the framework of article 31 of Regulation EC 178/2002, the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority for assistance in preparing an annual technical report of the results of residue monitoring in food of animal origin in the Member States. The present report summarises the monitoring data from 2008 in the 27 Member States.

The Commission publishes two reports which demonstrate the need for further progress in the European Union on the issue of anti microbial resistance. The first is a pan-European survey which reveals some worrying trends in public attitudes towards the use of antibiotics. The results indicate that citizens need more information on the correct use of antibiotics, even though 37% of respondents remember having received information on not overusing antibiotics in the last 12 months. The second document is a progress report, adopted today, on the 2002 Council Recommendation on the prudent use of antibiotics.

The aim of this project is to eliminate MRSA in pigs, or at least achieve a significant reduction in the level of colonisation, thus lowering or preventing the risk of human beings being infected. To achieve this, phage endolysins are over-produced in E. coli or Pichia pastoris. They are purified for use in the in vivo treatment of experimentally infected animals.

This is the second report in the UK compiled by the various agencies dealing with public health or the health of animals raised for food. It brings together data on antimicrobial consumption, significant pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibilities across the fields of human health, animal health and food.