Livestock superbugs leave few treatment options

Antibiotic resistance is a common battle for those in the medical sciences - but now it seems that farmers also face a fight with superbugs. Antibiotic resistance is a common battle for those in the medical sciences - but now it seems that farmers also face a fight with superbugs.

Humans are not the only ones who suffer antibiotic resistnat infections

A new study of antibiotic resistance in cattle have revealed a stark variation across thirteen European countries – becoming so prevalent in some that there are few treatment options left.

The results of the study - led by Rene S. Hendriksen from the Technical University of Denmark - show that major differences were apparent in the occurrence of resistance between countries and between the different antimicrobial agents tested. In general, bacteria from Denmark, England and Wales, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland showed low frequencies of resistance, whereas many cultures from Belgium, France, Latvia and Spain were resistant to most antimicrobials tested.

Hendriksen said, “The differences in resistance may reflect the differences in antimicrobial use between countries and veterinarians. Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly important problem among several bacterial species. The problem has become so critical in some of these species that there are few treatment options left”.

Of major concern is the level of resistance found in Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics previously thought to be effective. The prevalence of oxacillin resistance in Spain and France and the resistance towards cephalosporins indicate the presence of methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) in these two countries.

Furthermore, the authors found a frightening number of resistant samples of Escherichia Coli in France, Spain, Italy and Belgium. Hendriksen said: “The seemingly emerging occurrence of resistance to important antimicrobial agents in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain is worrying. These four countries had the highest frequency of resistance to most antimicrobial agents, potentially making treatment difficult.”

The results were published in BioMed Central’s open-access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.