Doctors call on hospitals to oppose the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/uoc--dco101215.php

Public Release: 15-Oct-2015
Doctors call on hospitals to oppose the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture
University of California - San Francisco

To help stop the spread of antibiotic resistance, UC San Francisco scientists are urging hospitals around the country to stop buying meat from animals that were given antibiotics for growth promotion.

For the last two years, UCSF Medical Center has been phasing out meat from animals that were routinely fed antibiotics, and now nearly a third of the meat served to patients, as well as in the medical center's cafeterias and catering operations, comes from animals that were only given antibiotics in the case of illness.

Experts warn that the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is endangering human health. Agricultural use accounts for nearly 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States, and the vast majority are from classes used to treat infections in people.

"This practice encourages the development of resistance," said Thomas B. Newman, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as pediatrics at UCSF, and an author of the commentary, which appeared in the Oct. 15, 2015, issue of the American Journal of Public Health. "Antibiotics are now more and more recognized as a precious resource that needs to be managed sustainably."

Humans come into contact with resistant bacteria through proximity to animals and also by being exposed to manure in fields and farm runoff, as well as by eating or touching undercooked meat or the surfaces where the meat was prepared.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America estimates that antibiotic resistance is costing the U.S. health care sector between $21 and $34 billion a year.

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