Uptick in infections due to chicken treated with antibiotics

In a report entitled "Humans resistant because of poultry antibiotics," the Dutch daily De Volkskrant reported on March 15 that the banned but nevertheless widespread use of antibiotics by poultry farmers has possibly contributed to increasing bacterial resistance against antibiotics in humans. Director Roel Coutinho of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of The Netherlands says this has led to problems in the treatment of elderly patients suffering from bladder infections.

Coutinho says there is no absolute proof as yet that resistant bacteria have jumped from poultry to humans, but the RIVM has organised a conference of experts to discuss the issue at the end of the month. The results of that conference will be published this summer. Earlier this month, the Royal Dutch Veterinarian Society called on all its members to end the use of the antibiotic Ceftiofur to boost resistance in day-old chicks.

However, in an interview on March 13, Coutinho said the contribution of the poultry sector to the bacterial resistance problem was limited. "The major problem by far is the unnecessary use of antibiotics in human medicine [...] antibiotics are being prescribed when there is no need".