Description
Antimicrobial resistance is a generally recognized threat to public health. Usage of antibiotics unavoidably leads to development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This is the generally believed assumption. This multi-author book addresses the question how antibiotics can be applied to combat infections in livestock, while minimizing the build-up of resistance. This information is not only essential for veterinarians and farmers, but also for policymakers and law enforcement agencies in the agricultural sector.
The main message of this book is that with well-designed measures and optimal strategies for application, antibiotics can be used with reduced collateral damage in the form of antimicrobial resistance. All authors are experts on the different aspects of antimicrobials in the framework of veterinary applications. The various chapters review the state-of-the-art on reduction of usage, the consequences for the environment, driving factors for development and spreading, and the legal aspects of antimicrobials in the framework of food production. Overall, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the scientific opinions on antimicrobial resistance in the veterinary sector.
In addition to summarizing the science, this book also provides practical and implementable suggestions for veterinarians and others involved in raising livestock to improve daily practice in order to prevent unnecessary selection of resistance. In countries where these principles of good practice are applied the resistance of livestock related microorganisms has stabilized and sometime even decreased over the years. This is an important message to spread globally, because if it is applied worldwide, antimicrobials will remains the reliable tool for healthcare that the have been in the past decades.
Overview and background; Antimicrobial resistance in the veterinary sector.- Preventive measures to minimise veterinary antibiotic use and their impact on antibiotic resistance.- Consequences of antimicrobial residuals in the environment.- Animal movements and food as driving factors for the spread of antimicrobial resistance.- Fluoroquinolones: Role in Healthcare and Environmental Impact and Resistance Development.- EU laws and regulations as an example of rules for the veterinary application of antimicrobials.- Enforcement of the EU regulations 2019/4 and 2019/6.
Benno ter kuile has been a policy advisor and researcher on the subject of antimicrobial resistance since 2001. Before that he had an academic career in microbiology and protozoology. Working for the Office for Risk Assessment & Research of The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the legal predecessors, he needed more information than was available on the relationship between exposure to antimicrobials and the development and spreading of antibiotic resistance. Therefore he started a research group at the University of Amsterdam focusing on that subject. He later became a full professor there on the subject of antimicrobial resistance in the food chain. He has (co-)authored some 50 articles on the subject and is associate editor for two journals, specializing on the topic of antibiotic resistance.
