Sludge Watch ==> Study warns excess fish farm drug use promotes antibiotic resistance

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.drugresearcher.com/news/ng.asp?n=68575-antibiotic-resistance-fish-farming-microflora
Study warns excess fish farming drug use promotes resistance


By Wai Lang Chu


21/06/2006 - A recently published report has highlighted the use of antibiotics in the rearing of fish could promote bacterial resistance leading to the evolution of resistant strains of bacteria in humans as well as the fish themselves. 

The news places further burden on the pharmaceutical industry, which has already seen its arsenal of antibiotic treatments dwindle alarmingly as cases of bacterial resistance continues to increase. According to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 2m patients in the US get an infection in the hospital each year. About 90,000 of those patients die each year as a result of their infection, up from 13,300 patient deaths in 1992. More than 70 per cent of the bacteria that cause hospital-acquired infections are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics most commonly used to treat them. The report published in Environmental Microbiology, July 2006, details the common practices that occur in the fish industry, particularly in developing countries, where large amounts of antibiotics are used to prevent infection. The antibiotics used are often non-biodegradable and remain in the aquaculture environment for long periods of time. This encourages the growth of bacteria, which can survive in the presence of these antibiotics, acquiring a resistance that is passed on to subsequent generations. The danger is these bacteria can be transferred to human and animal pathogens, leading to increased infectious disease in fish, animals and humans alike. "If we don't curb the heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture, then we will ultimately see more and more antibiotic resistant pathogens emerging, causing increased disease to fish, animals and humans alike," said Dr Felipe Cabello, author of this study. 

In his study, Cabello found that when antibiotics are mixed with fish food, residual antibiotics could be found in fish products and fish meat. People who eat these products will be inadvertently consuming antibiotics, leading to changes in their normal microbial environment, or 'microflora' and making them more susceptible to bacterial infection. The report recommended a more judicious approach to the use of prophylactic (preventative) antibiotics was necessary as was a global effort to curb the over-use of antibiotics in the rearing of finfish.


Full text attached and at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01054.x
      Environmental Microbiology
      Volume 8 Page 1137  - July 2006
      doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01054.x 
      Volume 8 Issue 7 
      Minireview 
      Heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture: a growing problem for human and animal health and for the environment 
      Felipe C. Cabello
     
             Summary 

      The accelerated growth of finfish aquaculture has resulted in a series of developments detrimental to the environment and human health. The latter is illustrated by the widespread and unrestricted use of prophylactic antibiotics in this industry, especially in developing countries, to forestall bacterial infections resulting from sanitary shortcomings in fish rearing. The use of a wide variety of antibiotics in large amounts, including non-biodegradable antibiotics useful in human medicine, ensures that they remain in the aquatic environment, exerting their selective pressure for long periods of time. This process has resulted in the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in aquaculture environments, in the increase of antibiotic resistance in fish pathogens, in the transfer of these resistance determinants to bacteria of land animals and to human pathogens, and in alterations of the bacterial flora both in sediments and in the water column. The use of large amounts of antibiotics that have to be mixed with fish food also creates problems for industrial health and increases the opportunities for the presence of residual antibiotics in fish meat and fish products. Thus, it appears that global efforts are needed to promote more judicious use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture as accumulating evidence indicates that unrestricted use is detrimental to fish, terrestrial animals, and human health and the environment.
     


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