World Health Organization Ranking of Antimicrobials According to Their Importance in Human Medicine: A Critical Step for Developing Risk Management Strategies for the Use of Antimicrobials in Food Production Animals

The use of antimicrobials in food animals creates an important source of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans through the food supply. Improved management of the use of antimicrobials in food animals, particularly reducing the usage of those that are “critically important” for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2009-07, Vol.49 (1), p.132-141
Main Authors: Angulo, Frederick J., Collignon, Peter, Powers, John H., Chiller, Tom M., Aidara-Kane, Awa, Aarestrup, Frank M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotics
Antimicrobials
Bacteria
Bacterial Infections - drug therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Biological resistance
Disease resistance
Disease transmission
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Food Industry
Food safety
Food supply
Humans
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Medicine
Risk Management
World Health Organization
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Summary:The use of antimicrobials in food animals creates an important source of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans through the food supply. Improved management of the use of antimicrobials in food animals, particularly reducing the usage of those that are “critically important” for human medicine, is an important step toward preserving the benefits of antimicrobials for people. The World Health Organization has developed and applied criteria to rank antimicrobials according to their relative importance in human medicine. Clinicians, regulatory agencies, policy makers, and other stakeholders can use this ranking when developing risk management strategies for the use of antimicrobials in food production animals. The ranking allows stakeholders to focus risk management efforts on drugs used in food animals that are the most important to human medicine and, thus, need to be addressed most urgently, such as fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/599374