The farming industry has often been used as a fall guy over the issue of antibiotic resistance but Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) and the British Veterinary Association have maintained the industry uses animal medicines responsibly and only when necessary.
The report warned about 80,000 people could die if there was a widespread outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant blood infection, adding high numbers of deaths could also be expected from other forms of resistant infection.
The report said “Without effective antibiotics, even minor surgery and routine operations could become high-risk procedures, leading to increased duration of illness and ultimately premature mortality.
“If a widespread outbreak was to occur, we could expect about 200,000 people to be affected by a bacterial blood infection which could not be treated effectively with existing drugs, and about 80,000 of these people might die.”
Last year, Prime Minister David Cameron warned the world could be “cast back into the dark ages of medicine” unless action was taken to tackle the threat of resistance to antibiotics.
At the time, England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies called on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to closely manage the agricultural community’s contribution to resistance.
RUMA secretary general John Fitzgerald said the United Kingdom livestock sector recognised the risk of antimicrobial resistance to animal and human health and had been promoting responsible use since 1997 to stop the possibility of their use leading to problems in animal or human medicine.
National Office of Animal Health technical director Donal Murphy said “Antimicrobials are necessary for vets and farmers to preserve animal health and welfare and are important to ensure a safe, affordable and secure food supply chain.
“While farmers and vets work to reduce the need for their use, there will be occasions when antimicrobials are both necessary and justifiable.”
