Antibiotics as feed additives for livestock: Human health concerns

Abstract

Antibiotics are defined as a category of natural, semi-synthetic or chemical compound with anti-microbial activity, which is extensively used to control and prevent for infectious diseases in animals and humans, and may be added in the feed as growth promoters to promote the growth and development of animals. Until recently, the main concern about inclusion of antibiotics as supplements in animal feeds is connected to antibiotic residues in products (milk, egg and meat) developed from the treated animals. These residues may cause a range of side effects such as immunopathological effects, transfer of antibiotic resistant bacteria to humans, mutagenicity, allergy, hepatotoxicity, reproductive disorders, nephropathy, bone marrow toxicity and even carcinogenicity. One of the most significant adverse effect of antibiotic residues is the transfer of antibiotic resistant bacteria to the humans due to the mobile properties of resistance. The rising use of antibiotic consumption in India is reflected through emerging drug resistance problem and regulations for the use of antibiotics in animals and human are still very poor. The unnecessary use of antibiotics in food producing animals is contributing to the antibiotic resistance development in zoonotic bacteria. Because of these detrimental effects, it is essential to regulate the antibiotic use in food animals. Farmers and veterinary practitioners should be aware of the problem through education by authorities. Now-adays there are good number of alternatives to antibiotics use; such as probiotics, prebiotics, herbal additives, organic acids, enzymes, active plant metabolites etc. which may boost production performance and immunity of the livestock and poultry without any adverse effect.

Melatonin promotes the growth and development of lambs by increasing growth hormone and testosterone, targeting on apoptosis signaling pathway and intestinal microflora

“…For example, dietary supplementation of oregano and cobalt mixture significantly improved growth performance, feed conversion, carcass weight, slaughter rate and immunity of lambs (30). However, these xenobiotics may have some unfavorable metabolic consequences for human body (31). In current study, melatonin was selected since melatonin is a naturally occurring molecule found in human body and with minimal side effects (32).…”

Towards Development of Molecularly Imprinted Electrochemical Sensors for Food and Drug Safety: Progress and Trends

“…However, the abuse of antibiotics could result in sustainable adverse effects on human health and the environment. The constant intake of antibiotics could cause immunopathological effects, hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, bone marrow toxicity, reproductive disorders, or even anaphylactic shock [ 68 ]. When antibiotics enter the water and land environment, the cycle of water will make it a significant local point of contamination.…”

A cross-sectional study: farmer’s perceptions, practices, and knowledge (PPK) on antimicrobial drug (AMD) and antimicrobial drug resistance (AMDR) at rural households in selected areas of Cumilla district, Bangladesh

“…In addition, the vast majority of responses (131 farm owners) confirmed that AMD had been applied to their livestock multiple times which indicates their experiences of applying AMD. Several studies reported that high doses of AMD application can result in the presence of antibiotic residue in animal food products such as milk, meat, and egg which can lead to the gene transmission to humans which is responsible for resistance to antibiotics (Hu et al, 2013;Dutta et al, 2019;Van et al, 2020). Besides that, due to prolonged antibiotic use and administration of a high dose, the feces of the administered animal contain the residue of the drug which moves to the pasture land and give rise to AR transmission due to grazing (Darwish et al, 2013).…”