Part 2: Animal Health Influences Human Health
Risk of Antibiotic Resistance
Compounding the issue, zoonotic diseases such as campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis, continue to build resistance against common antimicrobial drugs, according to a new report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Noting a need for adopting a One Health approach, the authors say the report confirms the rise in antibiotic resistance already identified in previous years.
According to the report, resistance to fluoroquinolones (such as ciprofloxacin) is so high in campylobacter bacteria in some countries that these antimicrobials no longer work for the treatment of severe campylobacteriosis cases.
Most countries reported that salmonella in humans is increasingly resistant to fluoroquinolones. Multidrug resistance (resistance to three or more antimicrobials) is high in salmonella found in humans (28.3%) and animals, particularly in S. Typhimurium.
For campylobacter, the report documents high to extremely high proportions of bacteria found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin and tetracyclines. However, combined resistance to critically important antimicrobials was very low to low in salmonella and campylobacter from humans and animals and in indicator E. coli from animals.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, says the report should ring alarm bells, but adds that ambitious national policies in some countries have led to a decrease of antimicrobial resistance. “So before the alarm bells become a deafening siren, let’s make sure that we increasingly act all together, in every country and across the public health, animal health and environment sectors under the One-Health approach umbrella.”
For more on zoonotic diseases, see these articles on Drovers.com.
Taxonomy Could Predict Virulence of Multi-host Pathogens
Resistance Grows Among Zoonotic Pathogens
One-health Approach Helps Address Zoonotic Disease
Sidebar
Could Climate Change Favor Zoonotic Diseases?
Some zoonotic pathogens feature high levels of host specificity, meaning a small number of animal species are capable of harboring the pathogen and passing it to humans. Others, such as rabies, have lower host specificity and can infect a wide variety of animals, generally increasing the risk of human exposure.
Recently, researchers at the University of Queensland and Swansea University demonstrated that environmental factors can play a role in host specificity and the risk of outbreaks in human populations.
In a report published in the journal Trends in Parasitology, the researchers provide an overview of challenges and directions in modelling host specificity under variable environmental conditions. In a previous study, they found climate change could constrain or facilitate the spread of diseases such as avian malaria. For many parasites, they note, host specificity is not fixed and can vary in response to environmental conditions.
"In the past, we've primarily looked at how many different types of animal species a pathogen infects -- widely considered an indicator of its risk to shift between host species,” says Dr Nicholas Clark, from UQ's School of Veterinary Science. "This is just one factor, and we've found that how infected animals are related is also important. Our research also shows that different environments provide new opportunities for pathogens to interact with and infect new host species.”
