The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a technical report warning that doctors’ ability to treat life-threatening infections in children is being compromised by the practice of adding antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs to the feed of healthy livestock.
“Children can be exposed to multiple-drug resistant bacteria, which are extremely difficult to treat if they cause an infection, through contact with animals given antibiotics and through consuming the meat of those animals,” said the report’s lead author Jerome A. Paulson, MD, FAAP in a statement.
Nearly 80% of antibiotic use in the United States is in livestock. Many of the drugs are given to the animals for nontherapeutic use such as feed efficiency and growth promotion.