Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens: Impact on Human Health and Economy

Abstract

The drug abuse known to occur during growth of animals intended for food production, because of their use as either a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment, promotes the emergence of bacterial drug resistance. It has been reported that at least 25% of the foodborne isolates show drug resistance to one or more classes of antimicrobials (FAO 2018). There are diverse mechanisms that promote drug resistance. It is known that the use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics in animals intended for food production promotes mutations of some chromosomal genes such as gyrA-parC and mphA, which are responsible for quinolone and azithromycin resistance, respectively. Also, the horizontal transfer of resistance genes as groups (“cassettes”) or plasmids makes the spread of resistance to different bacterial genera possible, among which there could be pathogens. The World Health Organization considers the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria as a health problem, since the illnesses caused by them complicate the treatment and increase the morbidity and mortality rates. The complication in the illness treatment caused by a multidrug-resistant pathogen causes economic losses to patients for the payment of long stays in hospitals and also causes economic losses to companies due to the absenteeism of their workers.