ANTIBIOTICS, ANIMAL FARMING AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE.
"almost 40 million people will lose their lives to superbugs over the next 25 years"
"about 70% of all antibiotics are given to livestock, creating a pool of animals in which resistance can evolve."
"About a million people die every year because of the spread of microbial resistance, and that figure will rise over the next 25 years”
"Estimates suggest that by 2050, death rates from AMRs will have doubled, with figures indicating almost 40 million people will lose their lives to superbugs over the next 25 years, with elderly people especially at risk."
"In the face of these threats, doctors have tried to limit prescriptions of antibiotics as much as possible (...). However, medical misuse of antibiotics is not the only route by which resistance spreads. The landscape itself plays a critical role, a problem that stems from the fact that about 70% of all antibiotics are given to livestock, creating a pool of animals in which resistance can evolve.
“We’re essentially throwing antibiotics at cows and chickens and sheep (...) Such actions help microbes to evolve, so they develop the ability to ward off antibiotics, resistance that then spreads across the globe."
“If you’ve got intensive farming where a lot of antibiotics are used or a busy hospital that has a poor sewage system, resistant bacteria can get into waterways,” (...) “Winds blow over these patches of contaminated land or water and pick up bacteria and genes with resistance in them, then let them rain down in other places. That is how pernicious this problem has become.”
From: Antibiotic emergency ‘could claim 40 million lives in next 25 years -The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/05/antibiotic-emergency-could-claim-40-million-lives-in-next-25-years?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&fbclid=IwY2xjawIQWgZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc6o1NMEbnmG8av76wf7Q7Z8dlq7nULmYoeQn7kWkY5cEp75p4fyMJ3ENA_aem_4QnPE84TdjmW-kPqhvriGQ
Image: "Vet gives injection" by Oregon Department of Agriculture is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
