Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Turkish public prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for 63 active-duty military personnel over alleged links to a group accused of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt
Kremlin says no agreements yet on next platform for Russia-Ukraine negotiations
YAF spokesperson: We targeted Lydd Airport, known as Ben-Gurion Airport, with a hypersonic missile
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Lebanon: Two Israeli airstrikes targeted Wadi al-Aziziya in the Tyre district.
CIA spokesperson says law enforcement responded to a security incident outside CIA headquarters.
Brigadier General Saree: Operation achieved its targeted successfully, forcing millions of Zionists to flee to shelters, and halted air traffic at the airport.
YAF spokesperson: We've executed a military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport in occupied Yafa with ballistic hypersonic missile.
IOF warning forces residents to evacuate and head South in preparation for expansion of aggression.
IOF issues large-scale evacuation orders for residents of 14 areas in northern Gaza.
Israeli media say that for second time in span of hours, a ballistic missile is launched from Yemen toward "Israel".

Antibiotics in farming harming human immune systems

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 25 Apr 2023 09:13
4 Min Read

According to a study, antibiotics used to increase animal growth generate germs that are more resistant to our body's natural defenses.

  • x
  • Antibiotics in farming harming human immune systems
    An electron microscope image of E.Coli bacteria. (Reuters)

Scientists have cautioned that the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture has resulted in the creation of germs that are more resilient to the human immune system.

The research implies that the rise of E.coli strains that are more likely to elude the human immune system's first line of defense was caused by the antibiotic colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and poultry farms in China.

Despite the fact that colistin is already prohibited in China and many other nations as a livestock food additive, the research raises concerns about a fresh and serious hazard posed by the abuse of antibiotics.

Read more: Albicidin, ‘new weapon’ in antibiotic war against bacteria: Scientists

Prof. Craig MacLean, who oversaw the research at the University of Oxford, said that colistin might be considerably more harmful than antibiotic resistance, and emphasized the peril of using antimicrobials in agriculture carelessly. MacLean believes that in order to make hens bigger, we unintentionally compromised our own immune systems.

The discoveries may also have important ramifications for the creation of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a class of antibiotics that includes colistin and which the researchers believe may offer a special danger of undermining innate immunity.

The majority of living things make AMPs as part of their innate immune response, which is their first line of defense against infection. Colistin is based on a bacterial AMP, which germs employ to protect themselves against rivals, but it has certain chemical properties with other AMPs made by the human immune system.

Related News

War-damaged infrastructure restored, Syrian Agriculture Minister says

French farmers attack, destroy two Romanian meat trucks

Since the 1980s, when colistin was widely used in cattle, colistin-resistant E.coli bacteria have been on the rise. This has led to significant limits on the drug's usage in agriculture. However, the most recent research indicates that the same genes may also make it easier for infections to avoid AMPs, which are essential to our own immune response.

The researchers discovered that MCR-1-positive E. coli had at least two times the resistance to being killed by human serum. When compared to bacteria that lacked the gene, the resistance to human and animal AMPs rose by an average of 62%. The research, which was written up in the journal eLife, also revealed that the resistant E.coli was twice as likely to infect and kill moth larvae when compared to the control E.coli strain.

According to MacLean, it is impossible to predict the effects this would have in the real world. And since China outlawed the use of colistin as a growth promoter, the predominance of these strains of E.coli has sharply decreased, indicating that these genes may have additional "fitness disadvantages" for the pathogens. The results, however, draw attention to a crucial danger that hasn't been fully taken into account.

Deadly superbugs

The risk, according to MacLean, is that if bacteria develop resistance to [AMP-based treatments], they may also develop resistance to a key component of the human immune system.

While MacLean and colleagues do not advocate for halting the development of these medications, they do argue that very rigorous risk evaluations of the chance of resistance developing and any potential repercussions are necessary. There might be some extremely substantial negative effects for AMPs, he noted.

According to Dr. Jessica Blair from Birmingham University, “Antimicrobial peptides, including colistin, have been heralded as a potential part of the solution to the rise of multidrug-resistant infections. This study, however, suggests that resistance to these antimicrobials may have unintended consequences on the ability of pathogens to cause infection and survive within the host.”

Dr. George Tegos of the Mohawk Valley Health System in New York stated that general conclusions regarding the possible hazards of AMPs could not be taken from a single research, but added that the results "raise concerns that are reasonable and make sense".

This new study demonstrates that colistin resistance is likely far more hazardous than previously believed, according to Coiln Nunan, a consultant for the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics who was not involved in the study. The British government's continued opposition to the EU's prohibition on the widespread use of antibiotics for prophylactic purposes in intensive livestock farming is also noteworthy.

  • antibiotics
  • farming
  • immune system

Most Read

YAF say struck 'Israel's' Ben-Gurion Airport with missiles, drones

YAF say struck 'Israel's' Ben Gurion Airport with missiles, drones

  • MENA
  • 18 May 2025
Israeli media: Yemen may push 'Israel' towards ceasefire in Gaza

Israeli media: Yemen may push 'Israel' towards ceasefire in Gaza

  • MENA
  • 17 May 2025
Rachel Accurso criticized for speaking out on Gaza children crisis

Ms. Rachel accused of antisemitism for speaking out for Gaza children

  • Politics
  • 20 May 2025
Martyrs, injuries in violent Israeli bombardment of southern Gaza

Israeli operation fails; IOF launch violent strikes on Gaza

  • Politics
  • 19 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Yemenis chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israeli rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, May 16, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Operations against 'Israel' yielding tangible results: Ansar Allah

People walk between buildings, Dec. 17, 2024, on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (AP)
Politics

Trump blocks Harvard from enrolling foreign students

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, steps out from his plane as he arrives at Muscat, Oman, Friday, April 25, 2025, a day prior to negotiations with US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff (AP)
Politics

Iran no longer benefits from reviving the 2015 nuclear deal: Araghchi

A Microsoft sign is decorated in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary at Microsoft headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash (AP)
Technology

Microsoft prohibits 'Palestine' in internal messages

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS