Antibiotic Antibiotics

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The controversy regarding the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feeds is that “super-bugs” are able to evolve. This is a threat to both the health of the animals and humans. What a “super-bug” refers to is a strain of bacteria that has evolved to be resistant to bacteria and lethal to the host organism. These super-bugs account for the death of roughly 48,000 Americans each year (Adams, 2013). These superbugs proliferate in the digestive tracts of hosts. Each dose of antibiotics in the animals’ diets at sub-therapeutic levels increases the likelihood of antibiotic resistance bacteria to evolve. The antibiotics kill the antibiotic sensitive bacteria, but bacteria that are resistant proliferate in the gut of the animals. When these antibiotic resistant bacteria are left to grow in the gut, they can cause infection to the animal or people that consume the animal as food (Falco, 2013, Amachawadl et. al. 2013). Antibiotic-resistance can also be conferred through horizontal gene transfer and other methods, making the mere existence of such bacteria a threat that should not be taken lightly.
The threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria emerging through the increase in usage of antibiotics has become a global health concern. Antibiotic resistance bacteria cause infections that are unable to be treated by normal measures that lead to prolonged illness and greater risk of death. The number of antibiotic resistant strains threatens health security, the control of infectious disease, increases the cost of health care, and can damage trade (World Health Organization, 2013). Animal husbandry and the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics in animal feed are listed as two of the major factors leading to the acceleration and sprea...

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...l production, and to expand animal agriculture research. The evidence of antibiotic resistance from sub-therapeutic antibiotics supports the need to eliminate this practice. In spite of farmers and pharmaceutical companies losing money, it is in the best interest of society to ban the practice of giving animals sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics in their feed. Increasing the research on the effects on the environment caused by the large animal feed lots is a large epidemiologic undertaking that should be seen through. In an effort to protect antibiotics and reduce antibiotic resistance, the overall use of antibiotics should be limited to only medically significant situations, drugs should be used more selectively, better sanitation practices should be used throughout the production process, and the enforcement of bans and limitations must be followed through.

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