Antibiotic misuse in poultry farms leading to multi-drug resistant bacteria, says CSE’s new study
The bacteria now spreading into environment
through litter from these farms – they can easily infect human beings
· CSE’s labstudy finds
high levels of multi-drug resistant bacteriain and around poultry farms
· Bacteria like E.
coli and Klebsiellapneumoniae,which can cause severe
infections in humans, showvery high resistance to antibiotics that, according
to the WHO, are critically important to humans
· Study also
establishesthat antibiotic resistance is moving out of farms into agricultural
fields through litter
· CSE recommends
concrete action to limit antibiotic misuse in the poultry sector
· Urges Ministry of
Environment, Forests and Climate Change and CentralPollution Control Board to
come out with standards and guidelines for waste management from the poultry
industry to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance into the environment
New Delhi,August 31, 2017:Misuse of antibiotics in poultry farms is
leading to a proliferation of multi-drug resistant bacteria. To make matters
worse, these bacteria are now spreading inthe environment because of unsafe
disposal of poultry litter and waste in agricultural fields–this has a
potential to infect human beings: says a new study from Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE).
The study – titled ‘Antibiotic Resistance in Poultry
Environment’ – conducted by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory, collected
samples of litter and soil from in and around 12 randomly selected poultry
farms. These were located in four key poultry-producing states in north India –
Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. A total of 217 isolates of three
types of bacteria – E.coli, Klebsiellapneumoniae and Staphylococcus lentus– were extracted and tested for resistance
against 16 antibiotics. Ten of these antibiotics have been declared Critically
Important (CI) for humans by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The poultry farms identified by CSE for this study are spread
out across 12 different clusters in nine districts. CSE researchers found that
antibiotics were being used in these poultry farms, and that the litter was
used as manure in neighbouring agricultural lands.As a control, the study also
collected 12 soil samples at a distance of 10 to 20 kilometres from the
respective farms, where the litter was not being used as manure.
Releasing the findings of the CSE study here today, Chandra
Bhushan, deputy director general, CSE, said: “Antibiotic misuse is common in
the poultry sector. What makes the situation worse is the fact that the sector
is also plagued with poor waste management. Therefore we first wanted to
understand the extent of antibiotic resistance in the poultry environment, and
then establish if the resistance bacteria is moving out of the poultry farms
into the environment through waste disposal.”
Poultry environment – reservoir of multi-drug
resistant bacteria
If anybacteria are resistant to antibiotics of at least three
classes, they are considered as multi-drug resistant. The study found that 100
per cent of the E. coli, 92 per cent of Klebsiellapneumoniaeand 78 per cent of Staphylococcus lentusisolated from the poultry environmentwere
multi-drug resistant. About 40 percent of E.coli and 30 percent of Klebsiellapneumoniaeisolates were resistant to atleast 10 out of
13 antibiotics against which these bacteria were tested for resistance. Also,
both E. coli and Klebsiellapneumoniaehad very high resistance to antibiotics of
critical importance to humans such as penicillins, fluoroquinolones, third and
fourth generation cephalosporins and carbapenems, which is a last resort
antibiotic used in hospitals.
“In humans, E.coliand Klebsiellapneumoniaecause infections which are becoming difficult to treat due to
high resistance. Disturbingly, we found very high resistance inE. coliand Klebsiellapneumoniaeisolates from the poultry environment. In some
of the isolates, all antibiotics that we tested were ineffective. If these
bacteria infect a human, then hardly any medicine will work as cure,”said
Bhushan.
Spread of resistance from farm to fields
The study found strong similarity in the resistance pattern
of E. coli from
the litter and from agricultural soil in the surrounding areas where the litter
was used as manure. This similarity was statistically established by the study.
“This indicates that the multi-drug resistant E. colibeing created in the poultry farms is entering
the environment through litter. From the agricultural fields, these bacteria
can go anywhere – into groundwater and food – and can infect agricultural
workers and animals,thereby becoming a public health threat,” says Amit
Khurana, senior programme manager, food safety and toxins team, CSE.
The study did not find any such similarity in the resistance
pattern of Klebsiellapneumoniae and Staphylococcus lentusfrom litter and agricultural soil. It also did
not find such similarity in the resistance pattern between the control samples
and the study samples.Bhushan points out that this aspect needs further
research: “Our findings on E.coli clearly establish that resistance is moving out of farms
to fields through litter. More studies are required to understand the behaviour
of the other two bacteria. The study also suggests that untreated litter was
being used in agricultural fields. Clearly, India needs an antibiotic
resistance-centric approach to waste management from poultry farms. Central and
State Pollution Control Boards must take a lead role in this.”
The CSE study recommends controlling rampant antibiotic misuse
as the most effective step to contain spread of resistance from farms. Further,
it recommends that the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
along with Central and State Pollution Control Boards should play a greater
role by enacting necessary laws and standards as well as ensuring regular
monitoring and surveillance.
“There should be complete prohibition of disposal of untreated
litter into the fields and use of litter as feed in aquaculture. Less risky
manure management options – such as bio-gas generation-- should be promoted.
Composting should only be done if other options are not available.This too
should be done under a high degree of supervision, supported by adequate laws
on site approval and process validation,” saidKhurana.
“We now have a National Action Plan (NAP) on Antibiotic
Resistance. The NAP addresses the issue of misuse of antibiotics in poultry
farms as well restricting the spread of resistance in the environment. The NAP
must be properly supported and funded by the Union government. The bottom-line
is that we must eliminate the use of antibiotics as growth promoter in the
poultry industry. Antibiotics should be used as a last resort to control the
disease. This is the only way we can reduce the creation and spread of
antibiotics resistance,” addsBhushan.
