In the wake of the Obama administration’s plan to decrease antibiotic usage in livestock, farmers are now trying to find alternatives that have fewer ecological and human health impacts. In an effort to reduce reliance on antibiotics, researchers at Iowa State University are testing if Lactobacillus species found in yogurt might have a similar health effect on livestock as …
A great review has come out on the use and ramifications of antibiotics in agroecosystems. “Antibiotics in Agroecosystems: Introduction to the Special Section” by Allison Frankiln et al is a review that attempts to get everyone on the same page about antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and antibiotic resistant genes in the environment. The article highlights …
Jonathan drew my attention to this paper on antibiotic susceptibility of 153 bacterial isolates collected from a hospital in Ethiopia. I thought the numerous grammatical errors in the paper would parallel with the quality of the study, but I was pleasantly disproved. In the abstract they state, “86.9% [of the 153 isolates] were resistant to …
The Joint Commission recently released new standards for antibiotic stewardship for field review. They aim to get more hospitals and institutions thinking about antibiotic stewardship programs and how their prescribing habits affect antibiotic resistance. Although it seems there may be opposition by some clinicians (as there always is with any change), hopefully antibiotic stewardship standards will become …
Here is a blog post providing a perspective on antibiotic use and resistance from the perspective of a veterinarian. Prudent antibiotic use. Antimicrobial stewardship. Whatever you want to call it, it’s an important subject. I spend a lot of time working in this area, and figuring out how to effect real change is the challenge. …
Some antibiotics routinely used in the clinic are considered to have little side effects. Such is the case for cefprozil, a second generation cephalosporin. This relative safety may be true (to a certain degree) from the viewpoint of humans taking the antibiotic. However, it is not the case from our commensal microbes’ perspective. Our study, …
A new PLoS One article from Dorado-GarcÃa et al. on the effectiveness of certain countermeasures to antimicrobial resistance shows some encouraging results. The study used MRSA levels as a positive indicator for antimicrobial resistance in Dutch veal farms. There were three methods of reducing MRSA levels in the farms that were studied: one program used protocol-driven methods, one used …
Meeting: Antibiotic Use in Food-producing Animals September 30, 2015, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Jefferson Auditorium 14th and Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20201. From Web Site: August 21, 2015 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today its third progress report highlighting its recent actions to promote the judicious use of antimicrobials …
In response to studies showing that antibiotic resistance can spread through the food supply, the FDA has made some recent policy decisions about the use of antibiotics in livestock rearing. A public meeting will be held by the FDA on September 30, 2015, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Jefferson Auditorium, 14th and Independence …
We write a fair bit about antibiotic resistance on this blog, but seldom about the alternatives. Obviously, medicine shouldn’t avoid using antibiotics altogether, but we do need better management and use of our current anti-microbial compounds. We also need new methods of treating infection. Nature News has a brief but informative list of antibiotic alternatives written by …