Antibiotic Usage in Livestock

Sub :Sci

Sec: Health

Why in News

A recent report has highlighted that India used 114 mg of antibiotics per kilogram of meat in 2020, ranking 30th among 190 countries in antibiotic usage in livestock. This raises significant concerns about antibiotic resistance and its impact on public health and food security.

Antibiotic Usage in Livestock:

Around 70% of global antibiotic usage in the 2010s was for livestock, and this trend is likely ongoing.
India’s Usage: India used 114 mg of antibiotics per kg of meat in 2020. This is significantly higher than Norway’s 4 mg per kg, making India’s usage 30 times more.
Animal-Specific Usage:

Sheep: 243 mg per kg	Cattle: 60 mg per kg
Pigs: 173 mg per kg	Chickens: 35 mg per kg

Global Variations in Antibiotic Usage

Regional Trends:
- High Usage: Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
- Low Usage: Europe and Africa (below 50 mg per kg).

Europe has significantly reduced antibiotic usage due to stricter regulations.
Sales of veterinary antibiotics dropped by over 50% between 2011–2022 in several European countries.
Critical antibiotics used in human medicine fell by 80–90% in the same period.
Countries like Thailand (pigs: 50% of meat supply) and China (pigs: two-thirds of meat supply) use higher antibiotics due to livestock preferences.

About Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR):

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication previously used to treat them. It is also known as antibiotic resistance.
As a result, the medicines become ineffective and infections persist in the body.
The WHO defines antimicrobial resistance as a microorganism’s resistance to an antimicrobial drug that was once able to treat an infection by that microorganism.
The resistance to antimicrobials is a natural biological phenomenon. However, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics accelerates the development of AMR.
Microbial resistance to antibiotics has made it harder to treat infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), blood poisoning (septicaemia) and several food-borne diseases.