15 Jul 2017
Reducing the use of antibiotics is very high on the agenda for the United Nations, DEFRA, the Chief Medical Officer and supermarket agriculture teams. Agriculture is not a scapegoat here, as it is recognised that most of the human
drug resistance is from drug use in humans. However, resistance can cross over both ways and farming should do what it can.
It has been decided that antibiotic resistance is a big problem for the human race and it needs tackling now.
Antibiotic resistance is “infectious” itself! Genes for drug resistance can spread by sections of DNA known as “plasmids”. These plasmids can leave the bacteria and introduce the genes into another bacteria, even a different type of bacteria. This is obviously a big concern. After all, when we go ill or our cow goes ill, we would prefer that the drugs worked!
