Study Examines Effects of Antibiotic Use in Meat Production in Low-Income Countries

A group of researchers from universities in Belgium, India, Switzerland and the United States have published a study examining how the use of antibiotics in meat production in low- and middle-income countries has affected antibiotic resistance worldwide. Van Boeckel et al., “Global trends in antimicrobial resistance in animals in low- and middle-income countries,” Science, September 20, 2019. The researchers reportedly found growing rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in several countries, including India, China, Pakistan, Egypt and Brazil. “Regions affected by the highest levels of AMR should take immediate actions to preserve the efficacy of antimicrobials that are essential in human medicine by restricting their use in animal production. . . . [T]here is a window of opportunity to limit the rise of resistance by encouraging a transition to sustainable animal farming practices,” the researchers concluded. “High-income countries, where antimicrobials have been used on farms since the 1950s, should support this transition—for example, through a global fund to subsidize improvement in farm-level biosafety and biosecurity.”