Antibiotics in Your Angus

It is rare to find a child (or adult) that doesn’t enjoy eating raw cookie dough or brownie batter. With consuming raw eggs, of course, we run the risk of contracting Salmonella. Although not ideal, it can usually be treated with antibiotics and a fair amount of rest. We often take the power of antibiotics for granted. What if one day we couldn’t use them anymore?

Although antibiotics have improved quality and length of life, incorrect and unnecessary use has led to a new class of antibiotic resistant infections. In 2002, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimated that the antibiotic resistant infections killed 25,000 people in Europe each year.

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a byproduct of improper use combined with natural selection. It becomes problematic when bacteria becomes resistant to many types of antibiotics until eventually, there are no classes of antibiotics left that can treat the infection. Many antibiotics are used to treat anything from colds to sepsis in humans, but about half or more of all antibiotics purchased are estimated to be used in animal agriculture.

Factory farms, which make up 99% of US farms, keep animals in extremely close quarters; chickens can receive as little as 67 square inches of space. Any infection in one of the animals can cause an outbreak in the population, so farmers use low doses of antibiotics to control possible outbreaks of disease and treat infection. Additionally, antibiotics are used to increase growth in livestock so that they become larger, and therefore, more profitable. Although veterinarians must prescribe antibiotics to the farmers, farmers are often left significant discretion over the usage of the antibiotics, which can lead to overuse and allow resistance to arise.

But overuse of antibiotics in animals impacts human diseases as well. Four out of 18 (E. Coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Shigella) recognized antibiotic-resistant bacteria are foodborne. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically states that use of antibiotics in food animals has already been identified as the main cause of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and Campylobacter, and also states that Salmonella is responsible for more than 1 million instances of foodborne illnesses per year. In a study by the University of Iowa, 70 percent of pigs sampled tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which was linked to the resistant outbreak of MRSA in humans. It is important to recognize that just because every MRSA, Salmonella, or Campylobacter strain is not totally resistant yet, does not mean there is no reason for concern. To become a significant health risk to society, only one infection needs to be completely resistant to antibiotics to ravage a population.

Moreover, bacteria can be transported to human victims in a number of ways, the most obvious being consumption of undercooked animal meat and products. Between 2009 and 2013, the CDC counted 75 outbreaks associated with beef, more than half of which were caused by the increasingly resistant E. Coli and Salmonella. Other methods of contamination include consumption of crops from fields fertilized with animal feces, as well as handling and swimming in contaminated waters. Another study found that people who lived in communities near hog farms were 30 percent more likely to develop a MRSA infection.

Although the CDC recognizes that agricultural antibiotics play a role in antibiotic resistance in bacteria affecting humans, experts agree that research is not complete, and more testing is needed to come to a more definitive conclusion. However, it is important to realize that a need for further research does not mean the effects of antibiotic resistance in agriculture are overblown. Often, the farming and animal products industry tries to downplay the risk of antibiotics used in agriculture. In an interview with Scientific American, Dr. James Johnson, an infectious disease physician at the University of Minnesota, states, “Frankly, it reminds me of the tobacco industry, the asbestos industry, and the oil industry.”

The issue of antibiotic resistance has already been documented. Taking steps to dampen its effects is important, before the problem becomes larger and more uncontrollable. The CDC recommends that farmers do not use antibiotics for growth and only to use antibiotics to treat and manage infection with the close supervision of a veterinarian.

The issue is more than just not being able to eat raw cookie dough or waiting weeks to get over a simple cold; it’s getting an infected cut and then developing an abscess or dying from a simple surgery because antibiotics might not be able to ward off infection in the future. Although animal agriculture is not the only reason for antibiotic resistance, and although reducing antibiotic use in agriculture alone cannot solve the crisis, it is clear that there is a potent risk posed by antibiotics in animal agriculture. It is important that consumers put pressure on the industry to reduce use of antibiotics in animals, as well as decreasing the amount of undercooked meat they consume, or limit the amount of animal products they consume. With activism and personal choices, we can enjoy raw cookie dough for years to come.