**3. Rationale and approaches to limit the spread of antimicrobial resistance**

Synchronization of international, national, and local approaches is advised for control and prevention of antimicrobial resistance. Promoting the rational use of antimicrobials, control on over-the-counter availability of antimicrobials, improvement of hygiene, prevention of infection, and control are the major recommended approaches. Thus, proper understanding of mechanism of resistance and accordingly innovation in development of new drugs is the need of the hour. A multidisciplinary, collaborative, regulatory approach is demanded for combating antimicrobial resistance [24].

**15**

*Antimicrobial Resistance and Rational Use of Antimicrobials in Livestock: Developing Countries'…*

**3.1 Reasons to focus on antibiotics' use in livestock vis-à-vis antibiotic overuse** 

For decades, meat industry has fed antibiotics to chickens, pigs, and cattle for their weight gain and disease prevention in the stressful and unhygienic conditions that is prevalent in industrialized animal agriculture production facilities. A strong scientific consensus asserts that this practice fosters antibiotic resistance in bacteria, which is detrimental to human health (HSUS Report). Food animals are quite susceptible to benign or commensal opportunistic microbes, so they are often exposed to antimicrobials, such as the antibiotic, for disease treatment and prevention, subtherapeutic purpose and prophylactic purpose to promote growth and improve feed efficiency. Many of these antimicrobials used to treat diseases common to both livestock species and humans closely resemble drugs used in this species [25]. On the one hand, these miraculous antimicrobial drugs are pillars of modern medicine to prevent and diagnose dangerous bacterial infections and save lives. On the other hand, the overuse, injudicious use, and misuse of these antimicrobial drugs have spawned the evolution of life-threatening bacteria that is making the current antibiotics reserve useless [26]. Thus, antimicrobial resistance can be defined as the ability of microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, to grow and continue to multiply even in the presence of administered antimicrobial with purpose to kill or limit their growth (NIAID).

**3.2 Philosophy of judicious use of antimicrobials in line with animal welfare**

sub- or non-therapeutic use of antibiotics on food producing animals on ethical judgement scale seems to be objectionable. The problem is that food-animal producers do not realize the ethics in their business because they claim that the conditions and processes in the factory farm are not a matter of ethics but of a societal necessity to fulfil the feed demand of the population. These producers seem to fail to realize the ethical dimensions of their practices, not only for food safety issues for consumers, but also welfare issues for their animals [27]. Any policy judgment including the danger of tolerable resistance or the level of animal abuse tolerable for the sake of the benefits from antibiotics overuse in animal feed is the subject of ethical judgment [28]. Lack of treatment protocols and solidarity of animal from herd and stopping the course of treatment after apparently realizing the disappear-

ance also comes under the purview of animal welfare.

**3.3 Current scenario in India and developing countries**

Animal agriculture by human needs to be predicated on ethical judgments where

Antibiotic use has been increasing steadily (e.g., between 2005 and 2009, 40% increase has been found in units of antibiotics sold). Cephalosporin sales increased by 60% over that 5-year period (in units sold) [20]. Antibiotics are used to treat human illness, livestock, and poultry diseases. In livestock sector, it accounts for more than 50% in order to control and treat diseases, and in low doses in animal feed, to promote growth and improve production of animal products [29]. There is no regulation in India to regulate the use of antibiotics in food animals, such as poultry and dairy animals raised for domestic consumption. As per, Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules (1995), Part XVIII: use of antibiotic and other pharmacologically active substances are applied only to certain types of seafood and poultry intended for export only [30]. Very few studies on antibiotic residues in animal products have been conducted in India, where one on honey was widely recognized [31]. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, in a study revealed that 11 of 12 samples of honey taken from the domestic market were not in compliance

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88458*

**and resistance**
