"Liberal use of antimicrobial drugs on farms - including those that produce fruit rather than meat - can result in pathogens becoming impervious to these essential medications. These drug-resistant organisms can cause infections in farm workers that are difficult to treat and can spread to other people. This situation has raised concerns among workers' rights groups and scientists studying the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)."
""The use of antimicrobial drugs, in the quantities used in food animal production, poses a risk to human health," says Christopher Heaney, an infectious-disease researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. "Workers are at the front line of that.""
"One of the earliest connections between antibiotic use and drug-resistant microbes was made by scientists studying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. MRSA is highly contagious and spreads in hospitals and nursing homes worldwide. It typically infects the skin, causing varying degrees of tissue damage. However, if it reaches the blood, it can have a mortality rate of between 20% and 50%."
Livestock farms raise animals and also cultivate dangerous microorganisms resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic use in agriculture has drawn attention to animal welfare and consumer risk, but growing evidence points to threats to farm workers. Liberal antimicrobial use can allow pathogens to become impervious to essential medications, leading to infections that are difficult to treat. Resistant organisms can spread from farm workers to other people, raising concerns from workers’ rights groups and researchers studying antimicrobial resistance. Early links were established through methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a highly contagious bacterium that commonly infects skin and can be fatal when it reaches the blood. The livestock-associated MRSA type CC398 is a dominant form.
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