Antibiotic use in livestock

Antibiotic use in livestock is the administration of antimicrobial drugs to farm animals to treat or prevent infections and, in some settings, promote growth. It can select for resistant bacteria that spread among animals, people, and the environment.

Antimicrobial resistance: The ability of microorganisms to survive or grow despite exposure to drugs that would normally inhibit or kill them. Repeated antibiotic exposure in animals selects for this broader public-health problem.
Veterinary medicine: The branch of medicine concerned with preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases in animals. Livestock antibiotics are veterinary drugs used under animal-health decisions.
Foodborne disease: Illness caused by consuming food contaminated with infectious organisms or their toxins. Resistant bacteria associated with livestock can reach people through contaminated food.
Antibiotic growth promoter ban: A regulatory prohibition on administering antibiotics to animals for the purpose of improving growth. Such bans directly target one historical use of livestock antibiotics.
Horizontal gene transfer: The movement of genetic material between organisms by means other than inheritance from parent to offspring. Resistance genes can spread between bacteria in animal guts through this process.
Metaphylaxis: Treating a group of animals when disease is present in some and others are at high risk of infection. It describes group treatment that may be used to control outbreaks in herds or flocks.
Salmonella: A genus of bacteria that includes major causes of foodborne and systemic infections in humans and animals. Drug-resistant Salmonella can circulate in food-animal production and cause difficult-to-treat illness.
European Union ban on antibiotic growth promoters: The European Union's 2006 prohibition on using antibiotics as animal growth promoters. It is a major regional example of separating growth promotion from veterinary treatment.
One Health: An approach that recognizes the interdependence of human, animal, plant, and environmental health. Resistance linked to livestock connects veterinary drug use with human and environmental health.
Prophylaxis: Measures taken to prevent disease before it occurs. Preventive antibiotic use applies this strategy to animals at elevated infection risk.

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