The Use of Antibiotics on Livestock and its Effects on Resistance: A review

Purpose:

The Womencillin laboratory’s purpose is to review the literature discussing antibiotic use in

livestock and uncover how this common practice contributes to resistance in order to raise

awareness on this issue.

Introduction:

The rapid dissemination of antibiotic resistance coupled with a decline in novel

antimicrobial discovery has resulted in one of the greatest threats to human health. Researchers

have attributed the over prescription of antibiotics as the greatest contributor in promoting

resistance. Although this phenomenon has been extensively studied in a hospice environment,

the use of antibiotics in livestock has not been well characterized despite making up 80% of the

total antibiotic consumption in the United States. As maintaining the integrity of antibiotics is

critical to ensure the treatment of infectious diseases and undergo medical procedures, this

review aims to highlight the negative effects of the use of antibiotics on livestock in order to

inform the public about this crisis. Through our extensive literature search, we hope to uncover

new updates on the use of antibiotics in US livestock as well as emphasize the necessity for

greater research on the impacts of this common use.

Aminov, R. I. (2010). A Brief History of the Antibiotic Era: Lessons Learned and Challenges for

the Future. Frontiers in Microbiology, 1, 134. http://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2010.00134

Summary:

Aminov succinctly discusses the history of antibiotics leading up to the emergence of bacterial

resistant strains. The author stresses the urgency to use antibiotics solely for necessary infections.
Contribution to review paper

This article will be really useful in writing the introduction of our paper as it delves into the

history and discovery of antibiotics. Additionally, this article thoroughly explains the

mechanisms behind antibiotic resistance while also offering various ways to prevent its

dissemination. Most importantly, this article has a section dedicated to the use of antibiotics on

livestock and references other articles that discuss the same topic. Ergo, this article supplements

our collection of sources which will fortify our ability to produce a highly credible review paper.

Crouch E, Dickes L, Kahle A (2015) Review on Antibiotic Resistance. Adv Pharmacoepidemiol

Drug Saf 4:183. doi:10.4172/2167-1052.1000183

Summary:

This article stresses the need for a collaborative effort on behalf of society in order to combat

resistance.

Contribution to review paper:

Like the Aminov 2010 article, this review paper gives a brief synopsis of the origin of antibiotics

and the emergence of resistance. However, this article differs from the one aforementioned in

that it goes into greater detail of antibiotics and resistance with much less jargon. This article will

pair nicely with Aminov 2010 for writing the introduction. Additionally, Crouch et al. will be

helpful in explaining the cycle of antibiotic resistance and emphasizing why research on

antibiotic resistance is crucial for maintaining our health.

Landers, T. F., Cohen, B., Wittum, T. E., & Larson, E. L. (2012). A Review of Antibiotic Use in

Food Animals: Perspective, Policy, and Potential. Public Health Reports, 127(1), 4–22.
Summary:

Landers et. al argue that livestock antibiotic use greatly contributes to resistance and emphasize

the need for agricultural antibiotic research.

Contribution to review paper:

This article will be really helpful for writing the body of our review article as it specifically

focuses on literature about livestock antibiotic use and how it promotes resistance. This review

article explores regulations and policies that have already been set and highlights their

weaknesses as they are only based on opinion and consensus. Using credible, peer reviewed

articles as references, Landers et. all forms an argument solely on scientific findings which leads

them to conclude that more research needs to be conducted to uncover the mechanisms behind

this resistance and prevent its prevalence. This article also provides lots of figures which could

be helpful to illustrate our survey of articles in our presentation.

Tang, Caffrey, Nóbrega, Cork, Ronksley, Barkema, . . . Ghali. (2017). Restricting the use of

antibiotics in food-producing animals and its associations with antibiotic resistance in

food-producing animals and human beings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The

Lancet Planetary Health, 1(8), E316-E327.

Summary:

This systematic review and meta-analysis describes the association of livestock antibiotics and

resistance and explores the effects of reducing their use.

Contribution to review paper:

Tang et. al provide a holistic survey of the studies conducted on the use of livestock antibiotics.

This article would be really useful in writing why it is essential to study the agricultural use of
antibiotics. Additionally, this article would give our team great credibility as it is composed of a

wide array of studies already conducted. Together with the Landers et. al 2012 article, these

articles would facilitate answering our research question.