AUSTRALIA’s feedlot industry has been cautioned about becoming complacent over antibiotic resistance, despite being in a very good position to manage the global treat.
Speaking at the BeefEx conference in Brisbane feedlot specialist Dr Kev Sullivan from Bell Veterinary Services said the industry driven Antimicrobial Stewardship Framework should be taken very seriously.
“Going forward we are going to be challenged by the community, challenged by other industries, and challenged by people with various agendas,” Dr Sullivan said.
“The problem is antimicrobial resistance is building in humans. There are some people who are estimating by 2050 that there are going to be 10 million people who are going to die due to antibiotic resistance.
“That’s bigger than cancer. It’s a very big deal.”
Funded by MLA and driven by the Australian Lot Feeders Association, the Antimicrobial Stewardship Framework aims to help lot feeders ensure appropriate use of antimicrobials and reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance. The end game is to protect both human and animal health.
The development of the framework included a survey of 550 feedlots around Australia revealing both antimicrobial use and resistance was low. A situation report detailing the use of antibiotics in the feedlot industry had been finalised, and a guide detailing how to manage antibiotics in feedlots and training materials were also available.
Dr Sullivan said while some antibiotics used in the cattle industry such as ionophores were not used to treat humans, there were many examples of crossover. For example penicillon was used much more in people than animals while tetracyclines are used more in animals than people.
Resistance to antibiotics had started to appear in the 1940s, just over two decades after antibiotics were made commercially available in 1928, he said.
“Every antibiotic developed has seen resistance develop, and its developed soon,” Dr Sullivan said.
“The number of antimicrobials that have been approved by the FDA for human use have declined dramatically for the 1980s, until 2008 and 2012 when there were only two in that period of four years.
““The sad news is the golden age of discovery is over. The discovery is done. There is not much happening in that space. There have been no new discoveries in 30 years.”
Dr Sullivan said the problem of resistance was made more challenging because people were living closer to their pets.
“Their companion animals, they’re taking them to bed and living really close with them. The chance of resistance could even be higher because the chance of contamination from faeces and fomites is quite high because they are living so closely.”
He said magnitude of the challenge was significant, even though the medical profession has made big steps in improving antibiotic usage.
Some 29 million prescriptions were written for people in Australia in 2014, he said.
“And that did include hospitals, emergency departments or aged care facilities. And those three sectors use a lot of antibiotics. Doctors need the really important ones because they are treating people who are often compromised and they need these antibiotics.”
Dr Sullivan said the adoption of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Framework would help maintain community trust, and ensure the feedlot industry had ongoing access to the antimicrobials it required.
“Our focus needs to be on wellness, not on sickness,” he said.