Kanikah Mehndiratta, MSc., University of Glasgow
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a global healthcare issue for the past many years, in human beings as well as animals treated against infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 even launched a Global Action Plan to target AMR through better antimicrobial usage monitoring systems. The World Organization for Animal Health also emphasizes the adoption of international standards on the cautious use of antimicrobial agents and monitoring antimicrobial usage patterns in animal food production. This however becomes challenging in under-developed countries due to the culture of small-scale farming, easy market access to antimicrobials, and improper regulatory framework. But, developing AMR reduction strategies requires understanding the antimicrobial usage patterns and how those are helping develop resistance. A recent study published in BMC Veterinary Research covers the same association between AMR in Salmonella species from poultry farms in Nigeria and the antimicrobial usage.
Antimicrobials and AMR:
Widely used during livestock farming against animal infections and in promoting better growth and quality of farm produce, the usage of antimicrobials has seen a major increase and is expecting an 11.5% raise within the next 10 years globally. Antimicrobials selected for AMR bacteria and associated genetic determinants of resistance can pass on to humans via consumption of associated produce, livestock farming, and even through environmental processes. When composed as part of medicines against infections, the same antimicrobial compounds have started proving ineffective due to the development of AMR. Such a link between usage and associated resistance has been reported in various studies worldwide. Correlation of AMR levels to quantitative data on antimicrobial usage is essential in places with very high rates of antimicrobial exposure such as Nigerian poultry farms.
Research Strategy:
The antimicrobial usage was estimated using a modified version of the Carrique-Mas et al., 2015 formula. Samples were also collected to determine the prevalence and AMR profiles of specific Salmonella strains to target associated prevailing resistance. ANOVA studies and t-tests were used to determine the significance between the usage of antimicrobials and other categorical variables such as place, bird type, and category of the farm.
Conclusion:
Amongst the 41 antimicrobial-rich products in Nigerian farms, 36 had active ingredients only while the rest even had vitamins. Most of them contained two or three different types of antimicrobials like doxycycline and aminoglycosides such as streptomycin and neomycin. 32 of these products, unfortunately, had active ingredients that are critically important in human medicine, mainly ciprofloxacin and colistin as reported by WHO. The study concludes higher antimicrobial usage in broiler farms in comparison to layer farms and also lists the cocktail of active ingredients in antimicrobial products that specifically pose high concern for AMR working against Salmonella infection-associated medicines.
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References:
1. Jibril, A.H., Okeke, I.N., Dalsgaard, A. et al. Association between antimicrobial usage and resistance in Salmonella from poultry farms in Nigeria. BMC Vet Res 17, 234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-021-02938-2
2. Carrique-Mas, J. J., Trung, N. V., Hoa, N. T., Mai, H. H., Thanh, T. H., Campbell, J. I., Wagenaar, J. A., Hardon, A., Hieu, T. Q., & Schultsz, C. (2015). Antimicrobial usage in chicken production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Zoonoses and public health, 62 Suppl 1, 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/zph.12165
About author:
Kanikah Mehndiratta is an avid researcher in the field of Genetics with a background in Biotechnology. She is a postgraduate from the University of Glasgow in their Medical Genetics and Genomics program. Currently, based in Chandigarh as a Scientific Writer, she involves herself mainly in projects related to neurological disorders. Outside of academics, she likes to read novels, travel and is involved in volunteer work mostly.
LinkedIn profile- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanikah-mehndiratta-301830171
Publications:
2.https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/iga-virus-immune-complex-neutrophils-trap-for-sars-cov-2/
3.https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/first-ever-genomic-analysis-on-the-african-swine-fever-virus/
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