Chicken meat is a good source of cheap protein all over the world. In Pakistan, poultry industry makes considerable contribution to food production and plays a vital role in the economy of the country. Poultry farming in Pakistan has virtually proven a profitable enterprise as it is the best source of cheap, palatable and nutritious food protein.
In Pakistan, 407 million poultry birds are being maintained having 372 million commercial and 35 million rural (household), giving 0.514 million metric ton poultry meat and 9618 million eggs per year. The per capita meat consumption is 4.26 kg per annum as compared to 30 kg in developed countries. In poultry industry antibiotics are being used widely as growth promoters and for the treatment of infectious diseases. These practices can lead to development of antimicrobial resistance in normal flora of poultry and other pathogenic organisms. These microorganisms can transfer resistance to human pathogens via food chain.
Antibiotic resistance or drug resistance is the situation when the concentrations of antibiotic needed to kill the bacteria are not effective to kill the particular pathogen or cure the infection. Escherichia coli (E coli) is a microorganism which resides in the lower intestine of warm blooded animals including human and poultry as a normal micro flora.
E coli normally plays a beneficial role in intestine by competing with harmful bacteria. The background of drug resistant studies on E coli signify that extensive and irrational use of antimicrobials in human and veterinary sector for treatment, prophylaxis and feed additive made this organism resistant to commonly used antimicrobials.
Chicken meat becomes contaminated by antimicrobial resistant E coli at the time of slaughtering. As the organism is normally present in gastrointestinal tract, soiling of carcass with intestinal contents may transfer resistant E coli to meat. E coli have the ability to transfer resistant genes to non resistant bacteria through various pathways. As a result pathogenic organisms are also becoming resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
The development of drug resistance in pathogenic organisms is one of the major causes of limiting the choice of antimicrobials for therapeutic purposes. Infections caused by drug resistant pathogens may also require more toxic therapy which can lead to adverse outcomes to patients. Therefore, there is a need to check the extent of resistance to ensure the efficacy of antimicrobials used in public health.
In order to curb the situation, government of Pakistan has banned the use of antibiotics in poultry feed but still there are various avenues which needs to be addressed.
One of them is over the counter availability of antibiotics both in veterinary as well as human sector. In order to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance, there is a need for modification in the Drug Act to control the irrational use of antibiotics.
DR FAYAZ YASIN, DR ALI AHMAD SHEIKH
UVAS, Lahore
