Antimicrobial Bacteria Case Study

Then Tom continues education with a little education on the variety of antibiotics and how “crucial for treating serious human infections” (Philpott). Using a hotlink to a well-known credible organization like the “Food and Drug Administration” back up some of his statistics regarding over use of antibiotics in livestock operations. Tom continually notes

Presently, speculations have risen about the amount of antibiotics used in the livestock industry and the desire to consume antibiotic-free meats. What is not understood, however, is the USDA has been monitoring the amount of antimicrobial residue in meats for several years. If unsafe levels are detected the meat is not allowed to be sold for human consumption. Yet, fast food chains such as Subway and Chipotle are claiming to go completely antibiotic free within the next decade. The practicality of this becoming a reality is slim due to the need to control, treat, and prevent diseases. To truly understand the importance of the antibiotic usage in cattle it must first be understood what antibiotics are and the reasons they are used. Additionally, the use of vaccinations should be taken into account for the

coli and Salmonella” (Veldman). This statement allows the reader to see the negative impact of antibiotics used in livestock. Gay Miller elaborates on the subject when speaking with Veldman, saying, “Of course, it raises concerns about resistance issues… but from my perspective the most important thing to reflect on with regard to antibiotic resistance is from a benefit/cost perspective.” Veldman continues to explain that the National Cattleman’s Beef Association Website also says, “…science has not found a link between the use of antibiotics in food animals and development of resistant bacteria that might compromise the efficacy of related antibiotics in human medicine.” These two statements by Veldman and Miller tell the reader that even though there is a chance that certain antibiotics used in livestock could be harmful to consumers, there is no scientific evidence to support

Antibiotic use in animals has recently captured the attention of various professionals as the blatant, adverse effects have become increasingly prevalent. Agricultural manufacturers carelessly inject livestock with antibiotics in order to maximize their weight gain by minimizing the amount of energy consumed in fighting illnesses. This broad use of antibiotics in food-producing animals has contributed to the emergence and distribution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in either mild or fatal illnesses. To put the severity of this issue in perspective, legislators must realize that 1 in 5 antibiotic-resistant infections are caused by bacteria from food and animals. Although antibiotic use in animals is not the sole culprit of the

E. coli is a bacterium capable of being transmitted from one person to another. To ensure that the bacteria used in this experiment were not transmitted to other places, items, or organisms, several safety protocols were followed.

The group most affected by antimicrobial resistance directly related to the agriculture industry are children under the age of ten. When pathogens become multidrug resistant the risk of detrimental outcomes including fatality increases significantly (Shey, 2003). Studies were conducted in Denmark after the ban on nontherapeutic antibiotic use in farm animals in 1999. Research concludes that there was a reduction in drug resistant genes and the health of the animals did not significantly decline nor did the profits of the

Escherichia coli are gram negative, rod shaped bacteria that are often used in laboratory studies and are usually harmless, residing in the human digestive tract as part of the normal flora. E. coli 0157:H7 is a pathogenic strain of E. coli that was first identified as a cause of disease in the United States in 1982, during an investigation into an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness. The organism is also called enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) because it causes abdominal pain with diarrhea that may contain blood. It lives in the intestines of healthy cattle and can contaminate meat during slaughter. It is believed that the widespread use of antibiotics by American farmers has

Because E. Coli O157:H7 is found in cattle intestines, a key method to prevent E. Coli O157:H7 contamination is to prevent fecal matter from splattering on the beef.12 However, this was not a priority for the meat processing and feedlot industries, which was focused instead on minimizing costs and maximizing profits. The feedlot sectors held responsibility due to the poor conditions it raised cattle. In order to minimize costs, cattle were kept in “medieval conditions” where they were without clean water and sewage disposal. Because cattle deposit around 50 pound of manure everyday, the result of the poor sanitation conditions is that cattle spend most of the day in their own feces, coating their hides with waste. In addition, the animal feed contained fecal matter from other animals. The meat processing industry further exacerbated this problem through their slaughtering techniques. In order to maximize profits the cattle were slaughtered at high speeds by employees who were increasingly composed of poorly trained, poorly paid, and politically vulnerable immigrant workers. To slaughter the cattle, workers must first remove the cattle’s hide before physically removing its inner organs. However, if the hides are not properly cleaned, pieces of dirt and fecal matter will fall into the meat. Furthermore, if the organs are not removed

The orgimsms involved in Escherichia coli 0157 is an anaerobic bacterium which is shaped like a rod and is Gram-negative. Escherichia is a foodborne pathogen which causes a variety of disease in humans worldwide. Cattle are the reservoir to the diseases. Between 1% and 50% of healthy cattle carry or shed E.coli by means of their faeces. The cattle can also contract the infection after slaughter as conmtanation can occur during slaughter or while the beef is being proceed into products suitable for human consumption. In the United states the most common way of transmission of the disease is through consuming contaminated food and water. Although it is also frequently spread from person to person impartial in communities where there is a high concentration of children such as child care services and primary schools.

The documentary Resistance explains how using antibiotics on livestock enables farmers to house animals in deplorable conditions and maintain their health efficiently. Although high heat kills them, the superbugs spread from animals to people through raw or undercooked meat. This constant treatment of antibiotics allows for the bacteria to develop a way around the antibiotics, making it more difficult for hospitals to treat

There are many areas things can go wrong in the process of raising, slaughtering, and packaging the beef for human consumption. Especially so in slaughterhouses and processing plants, as there are many potential contamination hazards, and most depend on human attention to catch and correct. The cattle may arrive at the slaughterhouse with feces on their hides, which present the first risk of contamination as it can be very difficult to remove the hides from the animal without transferring any of the pathogen bearing feces to the carcass. The second high-risk area in the slaughterhouse is the gutting station, where at some locations, workers are expected to keep up an extremely fast pace, as many as sixty cattle per hour, which does not provide adequate time to prevent accidents. A ruptured gut sac can leave a carcass intended for human consumption covered in fecal matter or stomach acids all potentially containing the potentially deadly foodborne bacteria (Schlosser 203). At these slaughterhouses, steps are taken to clean and disinfect the carcasses, but E. coli is hard to kill. It is encouraged by the Agricultural Department to begin testing at these locations for E. coli, but most choose not to, as they stand to suffer significant monetary damage if they discover any E. coli present in their products (Moss 3). Most slaughterhouses will not sell their products to processing plants that plan to pre-screen the meat before combining and

Adherence to antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines at University Medical Center is poor within the study period. Supporting implementation of antibiotic stewardship program and making sure that all of prophylactic antibiotics are covered by Health Insurance are importance and necessary in order to improve effectiveness and appropriateness of antibiotic prophylaxis usage

I recently watched the documentary called Food Inc. in which it unveiled the unsanitary conditions of livestock farming. Some livestock farmers use antibiotic-treated feed for their animals because they become very ill. The reason for heavy use of antibiotics is that the lack of sanitation in the tunnel ventilated houses create infections in the animals. (Robert Kenner, 2009) In some cases, antibiotics are administered without the consultation of an accredited veterinarian and for no reason. There has been an increasing fear in the public that antibiotics used in the meat and poultry may have some unexpected negative effects after years of consumption. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) have published articles that report on the effects of medicated feed that may create antibiotic resistance in humans. The CDC reports that 3,800 cases of drug-resistant Salmonella Typhi infections occur per year in the United States (CDC, 2013.) Salmonella is a foodborne illness which is also contagious amongst food animals. In recent news, the World Health Organization (2015) has labeled red meat a carcinogen. This recent information fuels the public’s fear that there may be a link to human antibiotic resistance and the overuse of antibiotics in food animals . This type of news has made antibiotics in livestock feed an urgent public health issue. In order to prevent antibiotic resistance and deter this problem the proposed bill known as Senate Bill 770 (SB. 770)

If you go to the store today you will more than likely come across a package of meat that reads “antibiotic free”. Now, to the average consumer who knows very little about the agricultural industry, they would more than likely assume that “antibiotics are bad” just by the antibiotic free labeling.

Take for example MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a S. aureus strain that was discovered in 1961 to be resistant to the antibiotic methicillin. Webmd indicates that MRSA has now grown its resistance from methicillin to “amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin and many other common antibiotics” (MRSA). This increase in resistance of a methicillin-resistant strain of S. aureus can be attributed to the increasing use and overuse of antibiotics, not only in the doctor’s office but also in agriculture. MRSA is only one of many antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. New resistant strains are evolving rapidly. According to Dr. Ed Warren, “there are high levels of antibiotic resistance in bacteria causing common infections (e.g. urinary tract infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections) in all regions of the world” (21).