This is a topic that comes up regularly in ferret health discussions
so more can be found in archives. Antibiotic resistance is created in
bacteria when antibiotics are given for the wrong reasons, or when
antibiotics are stopped too soon, or when people use weakened old
antibiotics instead of seeing a vet (or physician in people). They
also are often created through the food supply because use on animals
intended for foods is often done in ways that create resistant
bacteria.
It's long been known that certain illnesses, like HEV i.e. Hepatitis E
which also causes illness in ferrets, have been passed along into
waterways from pig manure.
Here is a report on a finding of not only antibiotics but also
antibiotic resistant bacteria in pig manure:
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/11/171690001/pig-manure-reveals-more-reason-to-worry-about-antibiotics?ft=1&f=1053>
This is a global problem. In recent years the U.S. has begun phasing in
a range of types of controls over agricultural misuses. In Scandinavia
the problem has been tackled for longer.
A short quote about the manure of pigs given antibiotics at farms where
the testing was done (PRC for this study):
Tiedje then tested those manure samples, looking for genes that make
bacteria resistant to particular antibiotics. That's when he hit the
jackpot: He found more than 100 different resistance genes. The
concentration of resistance genes was almost 200 times higher in
these samples, compared to manure from a pig farm that had never
used antibiotics.
End quote
Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game.
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
A nation is as free as the least within it.
[Posted in FML 7700]
