Food Chain Factor in Drug Resistance

Link: NetDoctor.co.uk - Daily news.

     Restricting the use of antibiotics in animals may prevent drug-resistance in humans, new research suggests. The research, published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, found that the Australian government's policy of restricting the use of the antibiotic fluoroquinolone in food animals has caused a reduction in the levels of drug-resistant bacteria in people. The researchers measured the levels of drug resistance of the bacteria campylobacter jejuni - a leading cause of food-borne illness - in Australian subjects and compared them with non-Australians whose countries did not restrict the use of fluoroquinolone. They found that in the Australian subjects the levels of drug resistance of the bacteria was significantly reduced. Commenting on the results, lead researcher Leanne Unicomb, an epidemiologist with Australia National University, said that the results strongly suggested a link between animal antibiotic use and human drug resistance.