Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Boudewijn Catry, D.V.M., Ph.D., is the first author on an eye-opening paper that was published last September outlining the use of the "last-resort" drug, colistin, in veterinary medicine. Colistin is an antibiotic that was medically approved in the late 1950s for the treatment of acute and chronic infections. Due to its high toxicity, health care providers largely stopped using colistin to treat humans in the 1970s.
However, as more and more cases of antibiotic resistance to second-and third generation antibiotics are pervasively spreading worldwide, colistin has been reintroduced to treat severe, multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections.
In 2015, the first case of colistin-resistant bacteria was found on pig farms in China. Cases were then reported in Denmark and the United States. Since then, research has unveiled the widespread and little-monitored use of this last-resort antibiotic in food animals.
The antibiotic, included on WHO's List of Essential Medicines, is used in "rabbits, pigs, broilers, veal and beef cattle, and meat-producing sheep and goats; furthermore, the antibiotic is used also in laying hens and dairy cattle, sheep and goats producing milk," according to the recent paper. (1)
Cultures interviewed Dr. Catry to learn more about the implications of finding colistin-resistant bacteria, how we got to this point,
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE
However, as more and more cases of antibiotic resistance to second-and third generation antibiotics are pervasively spreading worldwide, colistin has been reintroduced to treat severe, multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections.
In 2015, the first case of colistin-resistant bacteria was found on pig farms in China. Cases were then reported in Denmark and the United States. Since then, research has unveiled the widespread and little-monitored use of this last-resort antibiotic in food animals.
The antibiotic, included on WHO's List of Essential Medicines, is used in "rabbits, pigs, broilers, veal and beef cattle, and meat-producing sheep and goats; furthermore, the antibiotic is used also in laying hens and dairy cattle, sheep and goats producing milk," according to the recent paper. (1)
Cultures interviewed Dr. Catry to learn more about the implications of finding colistin-resistant bacteria, how we got to this point,
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE