Signal Worldwide livestock antimicrobial use up an estimated 58% over 2010 to 2020

Summary

The report presents the diverging paths of UK and global antimicrobial use as background to the AMR risk. UK use in livestock has fallen by 59% since 2014, but worldwide use in farm animals is estimated to have risen by about 58% between 2010 and 2020. The report sees this increase as contributing to the growth of antimicrobial resistance. It adds that antifungals are few in number yet widely used in both medicine and agriculture, creating a combined One Health challenge for respiratory medicine and food supply. In its chapter on foodborne disease, the report expects this gap to mean that trade deals with new partners could raise the risk of importing resistant foodborne strains.