Sunday, November 17, 2013

The resistant sheep

The resistant sheep

by Maria Gallegos

Antibiotic use in animals and crops has yielded multi-drug resistance causing concern due to lack of efficient treatments in the future.  Agricultural use of streptomycin in apple and pear orchards in order to combat fire blight lead to a study examining the levels of resistance that developed in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus species found in intestinal and nasal cavities of sheep.  Findings demonstrated an increase in antibiotic multi-resistance particularly in Escherichia coli of sheep grazing in orchards exposed to streptomycin.
 
Fig 1. Streptomycin-resistant E. coli isolated from sheep.  Graph shows a three month multi-drug resistance analysis of control and test group sheep concerning E. coli

Human use of antibiotics in the future requires careful consideration. This is the first known study conducted in sheep concerning this topic however certainly not the only species with this dilemma.

Original article by: Scherer A, Vogt H, Vilei E, Frey J, Perreten V. (2013). Enhanced antibiotic multi-resistance in nasal and faecal bacteria after agricultural use of streptomycin. Environmental Microbiology. 15(1), 297–304.

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