Stop giving antibiotics to healthy animals, says WHO

The food industry should stop using antibiotics to boost growth in healthy animals, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had said in new guidelines that are meant to curb human resistance to such medicines.

According to WHO, in some countries, 80 per cent of all the used antibiotics end up as growth-promotion medication in the animal sector.

The over-medication of animals and humans further raises the existing threat of antibiotic resistance, which has advanced to a stage where there are no more medications to treat some types of bacteria.

A growing number of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis – are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.

Antibiotic resistance is putting the achievements of modern medicine at risk. Organ transplantations, chemotherapy and surgeries such as caesarean sections become much more dangerous without effective antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of infections.

“A lack of effective antibiotics is as serious a security threat as a sudden and deadly disease outbreak,’’ WHO Chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said on Tuesday.

In its updated guidelines, WHO says that animals that are reared for their meat, milk or eggs should only be treated with antibiotics if they are actually sick, or if there is an infection among their herd, flock or shoal.

Instead of medicines, farmers should prevent disease by improving hygiene, through vaccinations, WHO recommends.

According to research published in The Lancet Planetary Health on Tuesday, restricting antibiotic use in food-producing animals reduced resistant bacteria in these animals by up to 39 per cent.

“The volume of antibiotics used in animals is continuing to increase worldwide, driven by a growing demand for foods of animal origin, often produced through intensive animal husbandry,’’ said Kazuaki Miyagishima, WHO’s Chief Food Safety Expert.

However, some countries have taken countermeasures to curb resistance. Only animals under veterinary supervision are expected to be given antibiotics. The use antibiotics for growth promotion or to prevent diseases in healthy animals are also discouraged. Also, vaccination of animals to reduce the need for antibiotics and use alternatives to antibiotics when available is expected.

While there are some new antibiotics in development, none of them are expected to be effective against the most dangerous forms of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Given the ease and frequency with which people now travel, antibiotic resistance is a global problem, requiring efforts from all nations and many sectors.

Tackling antibiotic resistance is a high priority for WHO. A global action plan on antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, was endorsed at the World Health Assembly in May 2015. The global action plan aims to ensure prevention and treatment of infectious diseases with safe and effective medicines.