Use of Fluoroquinolones in poultry helps C. Diff resistance to Antibiotics

[Guest guest]

excellent catch,

>From: mframson@...

Sheri, This is from a 2000 article. Your recent e-mail (Subject: Stomach

bug mutates into Medical Mystery) had the following paragraph:

But scientists do have a few clues. The dangerous strain has mutated to

become resistant to a class of frequently used antibiotics known as

fluoroquinolones. That means anyone taking those antibiotics for other

reasons would be particularly prone to contract C. diff .

According to the article below, the use of fluoroquinolones in poultry has

helped C. diff to become resistant to antibiotics. By the way

fluoroquinolones [there's that fluoride again...fluoroquinolones kill

bacteria through enzyme poisoning. Fluoride is noted for that ability]

Fluoroquiolones were used experimentally on AIDS patients resulting

in jaundice:

FDA Plans to Ban Two Poultry Drugs

By Philip Brasher

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration plans to ban two

antibiotics widely used by poultry farmers because of a risk that humans

could become infected with germs that resist treatment.

It would be the first time the government has pulled any drug to combat

infections that have grown resistant to antibiotics.

Abbott Laboratories of North Chicago, Ill., maker of one of the drugs, will

withdraw its antibiotic immediately, but Bayer Corp. Animal Division, of

ee Mission, Kan., which dominates the market, may contest the ban.

Bayer's drug, enrofloxacin, causes the development of antibiotic-resistant

campylobacter bacteria, a human pathogen, and the resistance is then

transferred to humans, FDA said in a statement announcing its action.

" Resistant campylobacter infections are a human health hazard, " the agency

said.

Public health organizations, including the federal Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, have advocated such

a ban for years. Officials warn that resistance to antibiotics is threatening

to render penicillin and other infection-fighting drugs ineffective.

But agriculture and pharmaceutical interests have successfully held them off

until now.

" We feel that this was an appropriate and a necessary step, " said

Wood, president of Food Animal Concerns Trust, an advocacy group that had

been pushing for the ban.

The antibiotics, known as fluoroquinolones, have been available for human use

since 1986 and often are prescribed to treat serious gastrointestinal

illness, including from the common campylobacter bacteria. The drugs were

approved for chickens, turkeys and cattle in the mid-1990s. Since, the

incidence of resistance to fluoroquinolones in humans has increased

dramatically.

" We want to take a look at the basis of the (FDA's) decision, " Bayer's senior

vice president, Payne, told The Washington Post. " We have always said if

we thought our product is causing harm, we would do the right thing. "

After years of testing, the FDA concluded this year that the health of at

least 5,000 Americans is affected each year by the use of these drugs in

chickens.

These people eat animals that are carrying resistant campylobacter bacteria

because the animals were treated with fluoroquinolones. If the bacteria make

people sick and they seek treatment, fluoroquinolones will be far less

effective than normal. This could be life-threatening to the elderly, to

children and to people with depressed immune systems.

Resistance develops when antibiotics are overused, both by doctors treating

people and by farmers treating animals. An estimated 40 percent of the

nation's antibiotic use is in livestock.

The FDA selected fluoroquinolones to study because they are so commonly used

and because the agency was able to collect the necessary data to directly

link the drugs' use in chickens with a specific problem in people, the Post

said.

The drugs, Baytril from Bayer and Sara Flox from Abbott, are used to treat

respiratory problems in chickens and turkeys. Because the birds are raised in

large flocks, it is impossible to treat the birds individually, so the drugs

are used in drinking water for the entire flocks. About 1.5 percent of

chickens are treated with the antibiotics, according to industry sources.

" It's used only under prescription of a veterinarian to treat really serious

illnesses that could have a very high flock mortality of 60 percent or more, "

said Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council. " They're not

used very often and when they are used they are used because they are

necessary. "

The FDA is reviewing the use of fluoroquinolones in cattle as part of a

comprehensive examination of all agricultural antibiotic use.

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On the Net:

FDA document: http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/cv0076.pdf

>

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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm