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Technologies to Reduce the Reliance on Antibiotics
Alexander Fleming, a Scottish scientist, discovered our first antibiotic, penicillin. Since their discovery antibiotics have served as a cornerstone of human and animal medicine, preventing pain, suffering and death in billions of patients throughout the world. Modern animal agriculture has been built around the readily available use of antibiotics, reducing mortality while improving animal well-being, caloric conversion and growth.
All antibiotic use contributes to antibiotic resistance and the general public has become increasingly concerned about potential areas of antibiotic “over-use”. Animal agriculture is increasing credited with causing proliferation of antibiotic resistant pathogens threatening human health. While the scientific community lacks consensus on how to stack rank risk factors for antibiotic resistance development, our reality is animal agriculture is being told to reduce our reliance on antibiotics.
Changes Needed in Animal Health Management
Food animal veterinarians rely heavily on pathogen identification to influence antibiotic decisions. Advances in molecular diagnostics have provided us with technology to readily identify pathogens. Over the past 15 years our ability to identify pathogens has greatly outpaced our understanding of their importance in disease. Acting with the animal’s best interest in mind we often employ the precautionary principle and utilize the tools in our toolbox to immediately protect diseased animals with antibiotics. Losing or reducing access to these tools will require food animal veterinarians to improve our diagnosis and management of Non-Infectious Disease. Technological resources will be required to more rapidly identify metabolic, auto-immune, traumatic and musculoskeletal disease and avoid antibiotic use in inappropriate cases.
The principles of precision agriculture should be employed to reduce antibiotic use. The vast majority of antibiotics ingested by animals are either converted into non-effective metabolites or distributed to non-target tissues. Technology to identify specific animals with infectious disease and administer therapy in low doses directly to target tissues will result in a dramatic decrease in total antibiotic usage.
Improving Health Management will require improved cross-functional problem solving. Veterinarians, Nutritionists and Geneticists must work collaboratively to solve problems in a world with reduced antibiotic use. There is not only a technology resource need but also an academic resource need. Cross-functional programs must be developed to supplement the existing disciplines which have been rigidly defined over the last 50 years. The true leaders in Health Management in a world of limited antibiotic access will be those who best understand the complex interactions of genotype and environment.