Most poultry flocks are raised under intensive conditions, increasing the need for microbial control. In the past decades, the continuous use of diverse antimicrobial products to prevent and treat pathogens has increased the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the poultry production chain.
When exposed to products used for their control, AMR develops in bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses as part of a natural evolutionary process.
When discussing AMR, all microorganisms should be included, not just bacteria.
However, antibiotic resistance in controlling bacteria has received more attention.
There are two main pathways associated with the evolution and development of AMR.
1. The first is related to resistance mediated by preexisting phenotypes in natural bacterial populations.
During the evolutionary process, bacteria accumulate genetic errors in existing genes within the bacterial chromosome or plasmids and transfer those genetic determinants responsible for innate/natural or intrinsic resistance to progeny cells through vertical gene transfer.
2. The second scenario refers to acquired resistance through horizontal gene transfer mechanisms that may occur between the same or different bacterial species.
This horizontal gene transfer can develop via a direct pathway involving gene mutations or an indirect pathway by acquiring DNA fragments coding for resistance known as transposons, integrons, phages, plasmids, or insertion sequences. The horizontal pathway occurs via conjugation, transformation, or transduction. These are biological mechanisms for transferring these genes.
AMR may result in treatment failures in poultry flocks, leading to economic losses for producers. However, the primary concern is that poultry may become a source of resistant bacteria and genes, and zoonotic bacteria may pose a risk to human health.
AMR is a global threat
AMR is one of the top global threats to public health and development. The primary sources of AMR development are therapeutic products, especially antibiotics, for humans in hospitals, and water contamination.
However, the use of antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of animal diseases has been proven to contribute to the increasing AMR issue.
Only in the U.S. more than 2.8 million AMR infections occur each year.
More than 35,000 people die as a result, according to the CDC’s 2019 Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report.
AMR jeopardizes many of the gains in modern human medicine.
It makes in...
