By: Tony Flood   Date: 1/27/11

Animal antibiotics – drugs used to treat sick animals have a key and very important role in the safety of our food supply.  Healthy animals at the beginning of the food chain lead to safe food on our plates.  It’s hard to believe, but animals get sick just like humans and antibiotics help to make and keep them healthy.

Relationship Between Antibiotics & STECs?

For the past several decades a debate has been going on within the scientific, livestock and public health communities regarding antibiotic resistance in humans due to the use and sometimes “misuse” of animal drugs as growth promotion aids or to prevent / treat some animal diseases.  That debate continues today.  Adding to it, we are beginning to witness an emergence of foodborne illness due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as beginning to identify new strains of old pathogens, namely non O-157 strains of E.coli also known as “STECs”.  These STECs produce shiga-toxins which can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition that can cause kidney failure, central nervous system damage, and other complications in otherwise healthy people.  The CDC estimates that non-O157 STECs cause 36,700 illnesses, 1,100 hospitalizations, and 30 deaths annually. Validated tests for four of six non-O157 STECs have been developed. 

While there is no conclusive evidence that antibiotic use ultimately leads to resistant bacteria or the emergence of STECs, there are a number of research initiatives in the U.S. and across the globe underway to help better manage and better understand the role of animal antibiotics and public health as well as the etiology of STECs.

At a recent meeting in Washington, the USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said that “STECs are presenting special challenges to public health” and that any policies – whether to better manage the pathways of antimicrobial resistance or emerging pathogens, “should be based on science and not on beliefs or inclinations.”   So far, the science seems to show that antibiotic resistance and foodborne illness are different in terms of concern and risk.  

According to experts and current information, there’s currently no clear evidence that the emergence of STECs have anything to do with antibiotic use on farms.  Our nation’s food safety problems are complex and our regulatory system is ever changing to meet the demands and challenges that are here and will likely be presented to us in the future.  We will need to continue to ensure we balance the imperatives of healthy animals with public health.