The Scourge of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria – including Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA – are a growing public-health problem. Complicating matters is the tendency of high-strength antibiotics to kill or change regular bacteria that live in the human body; people with low levels of the regular bacteria can be more susceptible to infections. The agriculture industry’s practice of feeding farm animals with antibiotics also contributes to resistance. In 1969, Great Britain issued a report recommending that human-therapeutic antibiotics be banned as growth promoters in agriculture, and only in 2006 did Europe comply, banning the use of most antibiotics in agriculture feed. “In Scandinavia, there's evidence that the ban has led to a lower prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in animal bacterial populations,” writes Laura Kahn for the Bulletin Online. About 90,000 people die each year in the US from bacterial infections, 70 percent of which are caused by organisms resistant to at least one drug. Still, the agriculture industry in the US and other countries continue to rely on the practice. In the quest for profits, some industries employ delay tactics, demanding more studies and absolute proof before changing questionable practices. – YaleGlobal