Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is to examine just how far mass use of antibiotics to improve the health and weight gain of farmed animals has imperilled the effectiveness of antibiotic controls in human health.
DAFF needed a research-qualified veterinary scientist or microbiologist to conduct a five-month project on the efficacy of surveillance measures in monitoring the consequences of large-scale administration of antibiotics in animal husbandry.
The project reflected widespread concern among medical specialists and hospital administrators over the development of resistant strains of several highly dangerous and contagious diseases.
Australasian tenders specialist TenderSearch gave a closing date of November 4 for responders interested in checking surveillance and reporting of antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic usage in farming and aquaculture, in Australia and abroad.
The work would provide options for setting up a nationally coordinated approach to usage, monitoring and assessments of growth in bacterial resistance, with advice on how various options conformed with standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health.
The five-month task would identify helpful factors and impediments to the implementation of various surveillance options.
This would include identifying any regulatory restructuring required. However, this work could skip detailed costings and regulation impact statements which could be done later by others as required.
The look at terrestrial and aquatic farmed species would be directed at medicines which selectively either killed or inhibited growth of bacteria. After a literature review, there would be a key stakeholder engagement analysis (with travel likely) and then a final report to Agriculture, consolidating weekly reports and several draft versions.
Progressive loss of potency of important antibiotics was a worry for health administrators worldwide, accentuated by reckless overuse and indiscriminate application in many countries.
Antimicrobial resistance, labelled as AMR, had been recognised as a global health priority by both the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health.
In February 2013 Australia’s Department of Health and Ageing and the Department of Agriculture formed a joint group to provide governance and leadership on antibiotic resistance, and to oversee development of a coherent framework for getting to grips with the problem.
The group functioned as the Australian AMR Prevention and Containment Steering Group. It was drawing in part on the expertise of the AMR Standing Committee established in 2012 under the advisory council structure of the Australian Minister for Health.
This called in clinical experts and professional colleges to complement public sector representatives.
The standing committee started work on the human side of the antibiotic deterioration equation with an inherited report, commissioned earlier in 2011 on “National Surveillance and Reporting of Antimicrobial Resistance and Antibiotic Usage for Human Health in Australia."
Recognising the obvious, this report quickly spotlighted veterinary and animal husbandry use of antibiotics and recommended a One Health framework with surveillance across all the sectors as the cornerstone of remedial policies.
The literature survey should cover the above report, published June, 2013 plus the World Health Organisation’s “Global strategy for containment of antimicrobial resistance", the European Union’s “Action plan against the rising threats from antimicrobial resistance 2011" and “A Report of the Australian One Health antimicrobial resistance colloquium, a report prepared by the Australian commission for safety and quality in health care", September, 2013.
The Australian Financial Review