Whats the bigger risk for causing antimicrobial resistance – antimicrobial use in humans or use in livestock?
This is a matter of debate, but the simple truth is that no one really knows. It’s common sense to think that both types of use can contribute to the formation of resistance in some way, although risk assessments have shown that the use of antimicrobials in food production systems plays an extremely small role.2 Not all antibiotics are the same, and not all antibiotics have the same impact on resistance. We find no evidence that over- the-counter antibiotic products used in food-producing animals pose a specific risk to human health. There is no evidence that prescription-only use of antimicrobials, or banning particular uses such as growth promotion in food-producing animals, has decreased the rate and severity of resistant infections in humans.
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