Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 11/24/11

The “substantial and expanding volume of evidence reporting animal-to-human spread of resistant bacteria, including that arising from use of [non-therapeutic antimicrobials] (NTAs), supports eliminating NTA use in order to reduce the growing environmental load of resistance genes,” according to an article published by two Tufts University medical researchers in the journal, Clinical Microbiology Reviews.

The researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine, Bonnie Marshall and Stuart Levy, reviewed past research studies, noting there is “overwhelming evidence that non-therapeutic use of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic resistance, even if we do not understand all the mechanisms in the genetic transmission chain," Dr. Levy said, in a news release about the article. Dr. Levy is professor of molecular biology and microbiology and director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine. Bonnie Marshall is senior research associate in the Levy laboratory at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Among the authors’ conclusions is that the addition of low levels of antibiotics to livestock feed and water turns the animals into “factories” for antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and that bans on the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in some European countries have led to decreases in antibiotic resistance.
Among Levy’s professional associations is the position of president of the international Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, as well as fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Disease Society of America, the American Academy of Microbiology and the Association for the Advancement of Science.

Marshall was supported in part by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Stuart Levy is a consultant to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.