TORONTO — The ability to treat infections among people and animals is reduced as the threat of antimicrobial resistance grows.
Antimicrobial resistance is a microbial hazard, said Anne Deckart of the Public Health Agency of Canada. She works with the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance, looking for the presence of a long list of bacteria on the farm as well as at processing plants and in purchased retail meats.
Resistance control is complicated, she said at a Canadian Meat Council meeting on food safety held in Toronto from Oct. 10-11.
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Bacteria develop genes for resistance through mutation. This genetic material can move between different bacteria species.
International initiatives to deal with resistance problems are underway.
The Tripartite Plus program is a joint effort to deal with resistance involving the World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
The goal is to enhance individual country actions, especially for those without the resources to deal with resistance, as well as joint efforts to build awareness and encourage behaviourial changes. The group is helping countries set up surveillance and national action plans.
Further activity is looking at counterfeit antimicrobials. There is also talk of developing an international surveillance database, a highly complex endeavour because multiple countries with different production practices and disease risks are involved.
The Transatlantic Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance is a collaboration between Canada, the United States, the European Union and Norway. Canada leads the work on guidelines for risk analysis of food borne resistance.
A meeting in South Korea in December will discuss an international code of practice for antimicrobial use in the animal population as well as integrated surveillance.
In addition, the EU has unrolled new legislation on veterinary medicine products and medicated feed. It is also reinforcing the ban on growth promotants and is developing a list of antimicrobials for human use only. This could be applicable in 2021.
“The implication is countries that wish to export to the EU will not be able to use antimicrobials in their animal population if they want to trade. This is still under development,” she said.
In the developed world, a number of countries are reducing antimicrobials use.
The Netherlands reports a 60 percent decrease in the last seven years. The U.S. said it reduced use by 28 percent in eight years while Canada’s use is down 14 percent in 10 years.
More countries are moving toward required veterinary prescriptions and discouraging the use of antimicrobials for the prevention of illness or growth promotion.
Some industries in Canada have voluntarily pulled back on antimicrobial use. The poultry sector banned Category I drugs in 2014 and by 2022, Category III antimicrobials will be disallowed.
CIPARS anticipates this change could improve Canada’s use statistics.
Canada is the sixth highest user in the world, but there is a caveat.
“In Canada, we have 21 times more animals in Canada than we do in people. Four times more kilograms are distributed for use in animals than people,” she said.
“When adjusted for weight and population 1.5 times more antimicrobials by kilogram are used in animals compared to people,” she said.
CIPARS is looking for various strains of salmonella, campylobacter and generic E. coli.
Antimicrobial use differs among the provinces but total use has been declining since 2015.
Surveillance has also found more farms are not using products at the finishing stage, she said.
Resistance to various products and the presence of different bacteria is also regionally based.
British Columbia has the highest level of salmonella enteritidis but Quebec has more S. heidelburg.
More penicillin is used in British Columbia, while Quebec uses more macrolides.
Ciprofloxacin resistance is highest in B.C., while S. enteritidis in chicken is resistant to Nalidixic acid, an antibacterial product used in Ontario and Quebec.
CIPARS is attempting to build more comprehensive data with dairy and feedlot beef surveillance starting in 2020. Its 2018 findings are expected to be released in a November webinar.
Current results may be viewed at www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/surveillance/canadian-integrated-program-antimicrobial-resistance-surveillance-cipars/cipars-reports.html#sb.
