Eye on health: We’re facing the possibility of an antibiotic apocalypse

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When it comes to minimising the use of antibiotics, they have developed the technology to use blood samples from animals to create custom vaccines for specific herds based on specific diagnoses.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Yahoo News
By The Independent | October 8, 2017

Recent warnings that the world is running out of antibiotics are only further confirmation of what we already feared: antibiotic resistance is a threat that can cost lives.

But in the battle to protect our global health, we humans have an ally in close quarters that should not be underestimated: the animals at our sides.

Whether or not the use of antibiotics in animals has contributed to the rise of drug-resistant disease, the health of humans and animals remains intrinsically linked.

Three of the drug-resistant threats identified in the US – primarily campylobacter and salmonella – can originate in animals, and 70 per cent of emerging diseases can infect both humans and animals.

Ultimately, the challenge is how to treat disease while preserving medicines. It is a battle that must be fought on two fronts.

First, we need to better manage the use of existing antibiotics to safeguard our last line of defence.

Second, as WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged, we must develop alternatives to either treat or prevent disease through substantial and targeted investment in medical research and development.

Across the animal health industry, the fight to antibiotic resistance is concentrated on both fronts.

When it comes to minimising the use of antibiotics, they have developed the technology to use blood samples from animals to create custom vaccines for specific herds based on specific diagnoses.

This means that within four to five weeks, a more effective, targeted treatment is available that gets to the heart of the complaint without the unnecessary use of a “standard” vaccine.

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