Federal drug regulators said last week that the ranchers and the farmers must do some restrictions on the use of a class of antibiotics in pigs, cattle, turkeys and chickens. Use of such antibiotics may lead to the growing threat of bacterial infections and the development of drug resistance in human beings and they may be resistant to treatment.
Medicines which has been mentioned by the Federal drug regulators include cephalosporins and are available in the brands like Cefzil and Keflex. These are widely known as common antibiotics widely used for the treatment of step throat and pneumonia. They are also used to treat urinary tract and skin infections.
Doctors say that these medicines have lead to the development of certain bacteria which are quite resistant to their effects. They develop drug resistance on the human beings. Doctors are of the opinion that this has lead to loss of thousands of human lives.
Many farmers have used antibiotics to such an extent on their cattle and pigs that some used to add them to their feed and water. It is an interesting fact that larger amount of antibiotics in the United States is used to treat animals and a lesser amount is used in case of humans.
Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a Democrat from New York feels that the FDA is too timid and must act more swiftly to prevent this drug resistance problem.
