Association between the Use of Macrolides in Food-Producing Animals and Mycoplasma pneumoniae Macrolide Resistance: A Global Ecological Analysis

Abstract

In the current study we test the hypothesis that the consumption of macrolides in food-animals is positively associated with the prevalence of macrolide resistance in M. pneumoniae at a country-level. The prevalence of M. pneumoniae macrolide resistance was positively associated with the consumption of macrolides for both food animals (Rho = 0.66; P=0.007) and humans (Rho = 0.54; P=0.040). Linear regression analysis revealed that macrolide consumption in food animals but not humans was borderline significantly associated with macrolide resistance (coef. 5547 [95% CI -596-11691] and coef. 0.006 [95% CI -0.008-0.020], respectively).