Antibiotics usage in food-producing animals in South Africa and impact on human: Antibiotic resistance

Abstract

The widespread and intensive use of antibiotic agents in modern food production systems is believed to be contributing significantly to antibiotic resistance among bacteria. Antibiotic usage in foodproducing animals tend to be increasing and data show that even those that have been banned in other countries such as growth promoters are still being used in South Africa. Moreover, very few relatively recent surveys and reports on antibiotic resistance isolates from food animals in South Africa have been carried out and are crowded in Gauteng province. However, despite poor health status which include a large portion of bacterial infections, as well as HIV/AIDS epidemic and tuberculosis, South Africa has had the most active surveillance for antibiotic resistance of any African country. But, the concern is that it has not yet fully translated available antimicrobial resistance surveillance data into policy. Moreover, a national surveillance programme of antibiotics usage on the food-producing animals and antibiotic resistance is required to help to mitigate the problem of lack of availability of information.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions Associated With Antimicrobial Stewardship Among Veterinary Students: A Multi-Country Survey From Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan

“…Through the perception of the veterinary students in Africa, tetracycline, penicillins, sulphonamides, macrolides, and aminoglycosides are the five most abused of all the antimicrobials used in Africa. This finding is in agreement with earlier studies in Ghana (44), South Africa (45), and Nigeria (46), and it should be a source of concern to stakeholders and the authorities. Regulatory authorities should intensify efforts to combat the continued misuse of these identified drugs and it becomes necessary to assess the situation in humans across Africa to see if the patterns are similar.…”

Occurrence of Campylobacter spp. in Selected Small Scale Commercial Broiler Farms of Bangladesh Related to Good Farm Practices

“…The spread of multidrug resistant bacteria can cause infections that are resistant to antibiotic treatment [58] and the transmission of residual antimicrobials through the food chain can trigger serious health problems, like gastrointestinal and neurological ailments, tissue damage, and hypersensitivity in animals and humans [59]. Therefore, the use of antimicrobials in food animal production should be minimized considering possible alternative options, like prebiotics, probiotics, and herbal extracts, for both prophylactic and therapeutic use in poultry production [60,61].…”

Detection of Virulence Genes in Multidrug Resistant Enterococci Isolated from Feedlots Dairy and Beef Cattle: Implications for Human Health and Food Safety

“…It was associated with the possession of resistance genes that resulted from the therapeutic and prophylactic usage of advocin and chloramphenicol in animals. Furthermore, it was reported that resistance to tetracycline, ampicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, and erythromycin is associated with the possession of resistance genes to these antibiotics, as a result of the widespread use of chlortetracycline, amoxicillin, penicillin, and erythromycin in intensive animal rearing either for disease control or as feed supplements or growth promoters [33, 40]. Coselection of resistance genes located on the same mobile genetic elements does occur as a result of the usage of different antibiotics in animal rearing [11–16].…”