Prudent use and regulatory guidelines for veterinary antibiotics-politics or science?

Regulatory guidelines are in place across the world to ensure that approval of antibiotics is consistent with current scientific understanding of quality, efficacy and safety including minimizing the risk of the development of antibiotic resistance. We suggest the regulatory process is fit for purpose and does indeed approve products that are safe for use with regard to development of antibiotic resistance. However, we maintain that in order to preserve the longevity of antibiotics, treatment should be based on an established diagnosis and normally only antibiotics authorized for the diagnosed indication and indicated bacteria are used.

Workshop report: the 2012 antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine: exploring the consequences of antimicrobial drug use: a 3-D approach.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global challenge that impacts both human and veterinary health care. The resilience of microbes is reflected in their ability to adapt and survive in spite of our best efforts to constrain their infectious capabilities. As science advances, many of the mechanisms for microbial survival and resistance element transfer have been identified.

Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) for environmental development and transfer of antibiotic resistance.

Background: Only recently has the environment been clearly implicated in the risk of antibiotic resistance to clinical outcome, but to date there have been few documented approaches to formally assess these risks.

Objective: We examined possible approaches and sought to identify research needs to enable human health risk assessments (HHRA) that focus on the role of the environment in the failure of antibiotic treatment caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Methods: The authors participated in a workshop held 4-8 March 2012 in Québec, Canada, to define the scope and objectives of an environmental assessment of antibiotic-resistance risks to human health.

Management options for reducing the release of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes to the environment.

Background: There is growing concern worldwide about the role of polluted soil and water environments in the development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance.

Objective: Our aim in this study was to identify management options for reducing the spread of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance determinants via environmental pathways, with the ultimate goal of extending the useful life span of antibiotics. We also examined incentives and disincentives for action.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a food-borne pathogen?

Prior to the 1990s, most methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was hospital-associated (HA-MRSA); community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) then began to cause infections outside the health-care environment. The third significant emergence of MRSA has been in livestock animals [livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA)]. The widespread and rapid growth in CA-MRSA and LA-MRSA has raised the question as to whether MRSA is indeed a food-borne pathogen.