Use Of Antibiotics In Indian Poultry Raises Concerns

A new study conducted by Indian researchers from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) found a high level of antibiotic resistant pathogens in chicken. They analysed samples from 530 birds amongst 18 farms to conduct tests that will reveal whether they were resistant to antibiotic medicines that were necessary to treat humans.

Two-thirds of the farms taken for the study revealed that they used antibiotics for growth in chickens. These farms were more likely to generate poultry which was multi-drug resistance. This study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that meat farms had double the rate of antibiotic resistant and high rates for multi-drug resistance as compared to egg producing farms.

Use of antibiotics of poultry is not only restricted to India but is also used in the U.S. even though it is a risk to human health. “This study has serious implications, not only for India but globally,” said study author and CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan to Science Daily. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has brought in a voluntary ban on using the antibiotic growth-promoting agents in January but its implementation remains skeptical.

The CCDEP in its study found the drug resistance in poultry to about 39% for ciprofloxacin and 86% for nalidixic acid. Ciproflaxin is used in treatment of endocarditis, gastroenteritis, cellulitis and respiratory tract infections and the latter is used for treating urinary tract infections. “Overuse of antibiotics in animal farms endangers all of us. We must remove antibiotics from the human food chain, except to treat sick animals, or face the increasingly real prospect of a post-antibiotic world” adds Laxminarayan.

Not only this, further testing revealed that there are certain enzymes present in poultry that adds to drug resistance of the medicines used to treat bacteria like E.Coli, bacterial pneumonia and other infections. On the other side, the use of antibiotics for poultry growth has increased globally and in CCDEP studies conducted prior to this one have projected increase in use of the antibiotics for animal growth by 67% around the world. This the study also predicted that this will happen by 2030 and triple its use in India by then.