THE routine use on farms of drugs that are related to human antibiotics
should be banned, says the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and
Technology. In a report issued this week, the committee adds that the agency
that monitors the 鈥渁larming鈥� spread of drug-resistant bacteria is being starved
of funds.
The Lords鈥� warnings are given weight by news of the emergence of another
antibiotic-resistant 鈥渟uperbug鈥�. 快猫短视频 has learnt that the
Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) has identified a new multidrug-resistant
bacterium, which could kill people with weak immune systems.
Many farmers routinely feed antibiotics to animals such as pigs and chickens
because this can increase their growth by up to five per cent. But some of these
antibiotics are related to important human drugs, and scientists fear that the
drug resistance in farmyard bacteria produced by this indiscriminate dosing with
antibiotics will spread to human pathogens.
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The Lords鈥� report says that a ban on the use of growth promoters belonging to
the same class as human drugs should be introduced, 鈥減referably by voluntary
agreement鈥ut by legislation if necessary鈥�.
Veterinary drug companies say that there is scant evidence of resistance
being transferred from farms, but committee chairman Lord Soulsby argues that
the threat posed by bacteria that can overwhelm vulnerable hospital patients
means that a safety-first approach is essential. 鈥淗umans are the most important
consideration,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 possible methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus will become untreatable鈥�
(see Figure).
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food accept that
pressure to ban growth promoters is likely to grow. 鈥淥ur view is that, in the
long term, the use of such chemotherapeutics will need to be minimised, if not
stopped,鈥� says David Shannon, the ministry鈥檚 chief scientist.
The Lords committee鈥檚 report also criticises recent cuts in the Department of
Health鈥檚 funding of the PHLS. This has fallen by 12 per cent over the past three
years, and the department鈥檚 plans predict further reductions. 鈥淚t is astonishing
that funding for the PHLS is falling at a time when the surveillance of
infectious disease and particularly resistant disease has become so important,鈥�
says Soulsby.
Diana Walford, director of the PHLS, says that the agency is developing a
comprehensive programme for the surveillance of drug resistance, relying on
routine reporting from hospitals rather than looking only at bacterial samples
sent to the PHLS for analysis. But its success will depend on more money, she
says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to have additional funds if we鈥檙e going to do the job
辫谤辞辫别谤濒测.鈥�
The PHLS鈥檚 current efforts to monitor the emergence of drug-resistant
bacteria are spearheaded by its Antibiotic Reference Unit. David Livermore, who
directs the unit, says his team has found a strain of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa resistant to 鈥渏ust about everything鈥�, including the current
antibiotics of last resort, carbapenems. 鈥淭his gives a worrying indication of
how resistance is on the rise in a broad range of pathogens,鈥� he says.
P. aeruginosa causes a wide range of infections in people who are
ill or have damaged immune systems, including lung infections in people with
cystic fibrosis and septicaemia in patients receiving treatment for leukaemia.
Drug resistance is a growing problem in treating these infections, says Stephen
Barrett of St Mary鈥檚 Hospital in London. 鈥淲e usually manage to find some older,
obscure drugs that work, but maybe we鈥檝e just been lucky so far.鈥�