To preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans, WHO is calling for an end to their use in healthy animals.
In new guidelines, WHO recommends that farmers and the food industry stop using antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals — a practice that drives antimicrobial resistance around the globe.
According to the agency, in some countries, around 80% of the total consumption of medically important antibiotics occurs in the animal sector, largely to promote growth in animals meant for food. In the United States, where experts have called for an end to the practice, the proportion is 70% by weight.
Antibiotic resistance can be transferred between animals and humans in several ways, including through direct contact, food consumption and the environment. Many human illnesses like urinary tract infections, pneumonia and gonorrhea are becoming harder to treat because of the reduced effectiveness of commonly used drugs.
In the guidelines, WHO recommends that medically important antibiotics should not be used in animals for growth promotion or disease prevention unless a diagnosis has been made in other animals in the same flock, herd or fish population. When appropriate, WHO said only antibiotics that have been deemed “least important” to human health should be used in animals.
Antibiotics considered “critically important” — including the highest priority medicines like cephalosporins, glycopeptides, macrolides and ketolides, polymyxins and quinolones — should not be used, according to the guidelines.
WHO. Critically important antimicrobials for human medicine. 2017. http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/antimicrobials-fifth/en/. Accessed November 7, 2017.
WHO. WHO guidelines on use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals.2017. http://who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/antimicrobial-resistance/cia_guidelines/en/. Accessed November 7, 2017.
LINK: WHO FOOD SAFETY
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário