Stringent policies decrease antibiotic resistance

Policies adopted by some countries to limit the use of antibiotics in livestock are leading to a decrease in antimicrobial resistance, concludes a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Food Safety Authority. The report suggests, however, that more countries need to adopt such policies because antibiotics are becoming less effective at killing bacteria that can be transmitted between animals and humans. The report highlights data from 2017, showing campylobacter and salmonella are increasingly resistant to fluoroquinolones. The report also shows that a high proportion of camplylobacter are resistant to tetracyclines. “We are entering into a world where more and more common infections become difficult—or even sometimes impossible—to treat,” Vytenis Andriukaitis, commissioner for Health and Food Safety in the European Union, said in a statement. The European Commission adopted an action plan in 2017 to encourage the prudent use of antimicrobials among the 28 EU countries.