Human Antibiotics In Animals the Cause of Drug Resistance ?

Farm animals are becoming a public health concern as the diseases they carry are becoming more and more resistant due to the human antibiotic that are used to make the animals grow faster while being feed less food. Drug resistance spreads can be spread in other ways besides from animals to humans such as from person to person, when antibiotics are not taken as prescribed, incorrect dosage and duration. At first the antibiotics work on the farm animals, but then they become gene resistant and is passed down to larger groups of animals. This is due to the fact that segments of DNA can jump and change between different species and strains of the microorganisms. The used of antibiotics on farms is causing an issue with medicines ability to combat bacterial viruses. However, the farm industry does not believe that this rising issues should be of any concern because it is not as extreme as researchers are claiming it to be. Some farm companies are even keeping researchers away in order to keep them from finding more evidence that the farm industry is making it more difficult to treat bacterial diseases by making claims that allowing outsiders around the animals can cause the spread of disease.

The connection between human consumption of animals that are raised with antibiotics leading to resistance to drugs is a question that has been explored by researchers in 1975 from Tuft University. In order to test the connection the researchers took 150 chickens and gave them tetracycline and observed them over the course of four months. By the end of the four months the chickens that had bacteria within them that were 36% more tetracycline- resistant. In other cases it is seen that animals that are not even raised with antibiotics are carries of bacteria that is more resistant to antibiotics due to the spread of gene resistance.

A solution has been put in place by companies such as Tyson that is now avoiding the uses of human antibiotics while other company are raising livestock with vegetarian free antibiotics diet. Since there is not much research done on this topic due to the feud between researchers and meat companies it will be difficult to stop the detrimental transformation that this issue is causing for public health. However, regardless of whether or not there is a correlation between the use of human antibiotics and drug resistance a better alternative should be made to raise animals such as a healthier diet so that antibiotics are not heavily relied on. 

Genetically Engineered to Die

Genetically altered mosquito’s have been released into the environment for the first time. These mosquito’s and modified with a lethal gene that kills there larvae before they can reach adulthood. It seems like this would be a more ecological solution to insect problems but concerns over the release of these insects are amuck. Meanwhile agricultural companies are hopefully that the same gene altering can be used on common crop pests such as fruit flies and worms. The technique had been previously used on other insects before but was not successful with misquotes because they usually would acquire lethal amounts of radiation and die before they could be released or be unfit to compete against other males for mates. The misquotes bred by Oxitec would normally die unless they were given tetracycline. In the lab they are bred and provided with the tetracycline, males are released, mate and die, and successfully produce offspring that will also eventually die. Experts say that the technique is not full proof however as misquotes may inadvertently evolve resistances to the gene and the pass it onto the outside population. Oxitec's main focus is on mosquitos that carry Dungue fever right now.