Dr. Mercola April 03 2008 35,053 views
The antibiotic-resistant bacteria Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) is killing both people and swine in Denmark.
The bacteria has been implicated in the deaths of a number of cancer and liver disease patients. The number of infected patients jumped 50 percent last year.
Health officials said the bacteria is being transmitted to humans through pigs. The increased use of antibiotics in agriculture may be behind the spread of the resistant strain.
The issue of antibiotic-resistant disease is a very serious one, which actually exacts a greater death toll than “modern plagues” such as AIDS. Compounding the problem is that not only are antibiotics over-prescribed in modern medicine, they are also widely over-used in agriculture – a fact that is grossly overlooked.
What are ESBLs?
Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) are actually enzymes produced by certain types of bacteria, which renders the bacteria resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat them.
ESBLs were first discovered in the mid-1980s. At the time they were mostly found in the Klebsiella species of bacteria, in hospital intensive care units. Until recently, few people were affected by these mutated bacteria and it didn’t appear to be a major growing concern.
That has changed, however. According to the British Health Protection Agency (HPA), a new class of ESBL (called CTX-M enzymes) has emerged, which are now being widely detected among E.Coli bacteria. These ESBL-producing E. Coli are resistant to penicillins and cephalosporins, and are becoming more frequent in urinary tract infections.
Other species of bacteria that can now produce ESBLs include:
The Problem is Worse Than You Think!
According to a study published October 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), there were close to 100,000 cases of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the United States in 2005, which lead to more than 18,600 deaths.
To put that number into perspective, HIV/AIDS killed 17,000 people that year.
Antibiotic-resistant disease IS a major man-made problem.
This was the study that propelled MRSA into the news last year, combined with a number of school outbreaks that took place around the same time. Discussions focused largely on reducing medical over-use of antibiotics, and proper hygiene such as washing your hands with soap and water to reduce the spread of infectious disease.
But little has been said about the rampant over-use of antibiotics in agriculture, which is a MAJOR source of human antibiotic consumption, and hence increased antibiotic resistance.
Agriculture as a Source of Antibiotic Resistance
Both MRSA and ESBL are being traced back to animals raised for food production, especially pigs.
These animals are often fed antibiotics at low doses for disease prevention and growth promotion. Animals receiving antibiotics in their feed gain 4 to 5 percent more body weight than animals that do not receive antibiotics, but the price is high for you, the end consumer, because this practice also creates the perfect conditions for antibiotic resistance to flourish.
Denmark's health officials claim they’re unsure of how farmers and veterinarians, who have not consumed infected meat, are becoming infected. However, according to research cited on Johns Hopkins website, the main reservoir of these organisms is in the lower digestive tract, and they can persist within the gastrointestinal tract for months. So perhaps the answer doesn’t have to be all that complicated.
So, the meat industry practice of using antibiotics is indeed a driving force behind the development of antibiotic resistance in a now wide variety of bacteria that cause human disease.
The long stalemate on this issue constitutes a struggle between strong science and bad politics. The FDA finally banned the use of fluoroquinolones – a widely used class of antimicrobials -- from agricultural use August 1997, but not without the Bayer Corporation kicking and screaming in vehement opposition. After all, antibiotics for livestock use is big business. It constitutes about 70 percent of ALL antibiotic use! They couldn’t replace that market with human consumers even if they tried.
Other Agricultural Sources of Antibiotics
Another heavily tainted meat product you should stay away from is conventionally raised chicken. A 2006 study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found that bacteria from conventional chicken and from people who ate the chicken became resistant to Synercid, a strong antibiotic used to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In essence, it can cause resistance to the last lines of defense currently available in the modern medicine cabinet.
It also found that it was rare to find resistant bacteria among antibiotic-free chicken, while the majority of bacterial isolates from conventional poultry were resistant.
But, the ramifications of using antibiotics in agriculture don’t end there. Antibiotics filter down through the food chain in sometimes non-suspecting ways.
Antibiotics are also being transferred, via manure, into your food supply.A 2007 study in the Journal of Environmental Quality looked at whether food crops will accumulate antibiotics from soil covered with antibiotic-containing manure.In a greenhouse setting, corn, lettuce and potatoes were grown on soil that contained hog manure with a commonly used veterinary antibiotic added. The antibiotics were absorbed by all three crops, into both their leaves and tissue. Meanwhile, the antibiotics also transferred to the potato tubers, suggesting that root crops like carrots, radishes and potatoes may be particularly at risk of antibiotic accumulation.These findings unfortunately also have implications for organic farmers, who often use manure as their main source of fertilizer. And, as it stands, manure that contains antibiotics is still allowed under the organic label.
How to Avoid Excessive Antibiotic ExposureSo how can you ensure that the food you feed to yourself and your family is pure and healthy?
Apart from growing it yourself, your best option is to get to know a local farmer near you -- one who uses non-toxic farming methods. If you live in an urban area, there are increasing numbers of community-supported agriculture programs available that give you access to healthy, locally grown foods even if you live in the heart of the city.
If you are looking for a safer alternative to commercially raised beef please be sure to check out grass-fed beef. Grass-fed cattle are not routinely fed antibiotics. They may occasionally receive them for an infection, but that would be the rare exception, and even then they are only used for a few days.
For more tips on where to find choice grass-fed beef, see my previous article The Selling of Organic.
It's not just the antibiotics, which are dreadful of course. I lived in The Netherlands for many years. While they do a lot of things right in that country, the farmers seem to be a different race of people - famous for being unfriendly and greedy, and for their uncaring profiteering (I've met several and they actually do wear wooden clogs). Dutch veal used to be highly prised for its pale colour and tenderness, caused by keeping calves in small, dark boxes where they couldn't even turn around (the French are famous for this sort of thing, and force-feeding corn to geese for Foie Gras as well, but they say other countries just pretend to care more about animals - and sometimes I fear they are right). Being that space in Holland is at a premium - 75% of Dutch households live in apartment blocks - they sadly came up with a truly diabolical concept: high-rise pig pens. People in England were shocked to discover that most of our British brands of bacon, labeled 'produced in the UK', were actually made of Dutch pork. The production referred only to curing and packaging the meat. Most have forgotten this again now, of course.
During the 80s, even in Amsterdam you could smell the pig-pooh on the wind and the government started imposing restrictions on just how much pig-manure farmers were permitted to spray on their land. The farmers were up in arms, of course, because this effectively restricted their pork production. All this manure is rich in phosphates (from the unnatural feeds used), washing into the highly numerous waterways there and causing imbalance in the plant /fish life.
The Dutch started growing enormously tall, much taller than their parents, especially the baby-boomer generation, and many have attributed this to excessive use of growth hormones in the animals. I was 20 when I moved there and hadn't grown at all since age 16, but then I grew nearly another 2 inches!
I grew up in The Netherlands and I started to 'develop' when I was 9 and not because I was fat, I liked my milk and cheese (no doubt full of hormones too). I'm thankfull my kids don't have to grow up in such a polluted counrty and I'm not just talking about the air and water, it's a moraly corrupt country too. Before I left I was on 8 different medications just so I could breathe, since coming to the U.S. I haven't had to take any.
People raising the animals for consumption would have to care. Most don't see the animals, but a dollar amount. Government does nothing to encourage small scale farming, so what is left are huge mono cultures of pigs, or cattle, or chickens, or potatoes, etc, etc.
Mono culture is the worst form of farming. It is only used to reduce the expenses generated by mixed farming. Perhaps when over half the population of humans is wiped out, and we are back to a number that is more easily supported by the Earth, we will return to a more basic way of life. One where people know where what they are eating comes from and what it has been fed.
Antibiotics are not necessary when animals are housed well. It is the over crowding and filthy conditions that lead to the problems the farmers hope to over come with medicines. Plus, most farmers are fooled into believing what they are feeding is better. Veterinarians are sold into the medicated feeds by the drug companies and they spread the word to the farmers. These things work for several years, so the idea becomes gospel truth.
Remember the lie that our dogs and cats should not be fed "people" food and they should be fed the "better" vet approved canned and bagged diet. We've seen where that idea went...
Auntie Evil, good post. Many Vital Voters have weird names, but I'm particularly curious as to how you came up with Auntie Evil?
I'm not a "doomsday" nor am I a conspiracy theory-nut, but does anyone else feel like we are on a huge bubble about ready to burst?
It just seems that with the economy, the restriction of rights, the growing governments, increased genetically altered foods, pollution, food additives, prescription medications, meetings behind closed doors and etc. that there is NO way we can keep going the way we are! Everyone I know is pissed off at the government! It just feels like this whole thing is about to blow.
Sorry - had to vent.
Guess what was if our weekly grocery store adds?! 'Organic yellow(GMO'ed)carrots'. Who are they trying to fool?
If you're interested in the hard work of being part of the solution, send me an email at chiro4life@hotmail.com
I recently did an experiment with oil of oregano on myself. I had a 2 inch in diameter and one inch deep infection raging on my abdomen with an open sore about one in in diameter. It was quite nasty and very very tender. I had recently read an article that oil of oregano killed even MRSA. So, I took about 8 drops of oil of oregano in a spoonful of water followed by a glass of water every 6 to 8 hours for ten days. I did this instead of the regularly prescribed antibiotic Keflex. Within one day it was stablized and at the end of the ten days it was all but completely healed. The other nice thing that happened was that I did not get a vaginal yeast infection. Normally when I have taken antibiotcis I have had to consume lots of yougurt and / or probiotics to keep this from happening.
I hope this is of help and information.