Antimicrobial Resistance in Farm Animals in Brazil: An Update Overview

Abstract

In animal husbandry, antimicrobial agents have been administered as supplements to increase production over the last 60 years. Large-scale animal production has increased the importance of antibiotic management because it may favor the evolution of antimicrobial resistance and select resistant strains. Brazil is a significant producer and exporter of animal-derived food. Although Brazil is still preparing a national surveillance plan, several changes in legislation and timely programs have been implemented. Thus, Brazilian data on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria associated with animals come from official programs and the scientific community. This review aims to update and discuss the available Brazilian data on this topic, emphasizing legal aspects, incidence, and genetics of the resistance reported by studies published since 2009, focusing on farm animals and derived foods with the most global public health impact. Studies are related to poultry, cattle, and pigs, and mainly concentrate on non-typhoid Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. We also describe legal aspects of antimicrobial use in this context; and the current occurrence of genetic elements associated with resistance to beta-lactams, colistin, and fluoroquinolones, among other antimicrobial agents. Data here presented may be useful to provide a better understanding of the Brazilian status on antimicrobial resistance related to farm animals and animal-derived food products.

Molecular Typing and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profile of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates Recovered from Bovine Mastitis and Nasal Samples

“…Beyond that, even if we excluded resistance to penicillin, as proposed by Magiorakos et al [ 10 ], 30 (15.87%) isolates were regarded as multidrug-resistant S. aureus . A high proportion of S. aureus isolates originated from IMIs harboring resistance to tetracycline and penicillin has been previously observed in Brazil [ 22 , 23 ], which corroborates our findings. Nevertheless, our study showed a high level of resistance to gentamycin in S. aureus originating from IMIs, although gentamycin resistance frequencies reported are generally low [ 22 , 23 ].…”

A Review of Antimicrobial Resistance in Poultry Farming within Low-Resource Settings

“…In particular, multiple other literature reviews evaluating AMR bacteria from poultry have given priority to foodborne, specifically, Escherichia coli , non-typhoid Salmonella spp., and Campylobacter spp. because of their importance to veterinarian medicine and public health [ 7 , 166 , 167 , 168 ]. Commensal bacteria can potentially be a public health threat because it can transfer ARGs to human microbiota and eventually to human pathogens [ 73 , 169 ].…”

Last Call for Replacement of Antimicrobials in Animal Production: Modern Challenges, Opportunities, and Potential Solutions

“…The predictions and successive monitoring of the resistance of microorganisms, mainly those isolated from farm animals (annual reports from individual countries included in Table 1 ) [ 39 ], prompted WHO and other organizations to develop guidelines indicating the most important points in the elimination of drug resistance. The results of this work were presented in the Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) report on Antimicrobial Resistance, identifying the main targets and predictions for the development of resistance and mortality associated with the treatment of MDR infections [ 5 ].…”