Occurrence and epidemiology of resistance to virginiamycin and streptogramins

Open Access

1 February 1999

journal article
review article
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Vol. 43 (2) , 171-176
https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/43.2.171

Abstract

Non-human sources have been increasingly suspected as reservoirs for some antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotics are used in animals both to treat infections and as growth promoters. The potential role that antibiotic use in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry plays in the transfer of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to humans is a controversial issue. There is clear evidence that the increase in consumption of antibiotics by animals has been accompanied by a similar rise in the number of antibiotic-resistant strains isolated.¹ ^,2 ^,3 ^,4 ^,5 ^,6 It has been suspected that antibiotic use in food animals has resulted in the novel resistance genes and multiresistant pathogens that have emerged in these animals.⁷ ^,8 ^,9 ^,10 ^,11 ^,12 ^,13 ^,14 ^,15 ^,16 ^,17 ^,18 ^,19 ^,20 Dupont & Steele²⁰ reported that 45% of antimicrobial use in the USA was for animal feed supplementation. Studies of salmonella,¹⁴Escherichia coli,¹² enterococci⁶ ^,7 ^,8 ^,9 ^,10 ^,11 ^,15 ^,16 ^,17 and campylobacter¹³ support the claim that novel resistance genes may be selected in the bacterial flora of animals as a direct consequence of antibiotic use.

Keywords

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