Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops.

An accessible overview of the challenges in tackling AMR, and the economic and policy responses of the 'One Health' approach. It will appeal to policy-makers seeking to strengthen national and local polices tackling AMR, as well as students and academics who want an overview of the latest scientific evidence regarding effective AMR policies.

Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. But their use and misuse have resulted in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. This is now a significant health problem: each year in the European Union alone, over 25 000 people die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is also a food safety problem: antibiotic use in food animals -for treatment, disease prevention or growth promotion - allows resistant bacteria and resistance genes to spread from food animals to humans through the food-chain. This publication explores the options for prevention and containment of antibiotic resistance in the food-chain through national coordination and international cooperation, including the regulation and reduction of antibiotic use in food animals, training and capacity building, surveillance of resistance trends and antibiotic usage, promotion of knowledge and research, and advocacy and communication to raise awareness of the issues. This publication is primarily intended for policy-makers and authorities working in the public health, agriculture, food production and veterinary sectors, and offers them ways to take a holistic, intersect oral, multifaceted approach to this growing problem.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Food Safety: Methods and Techniques introduces antimicrobial resistant food-borne pathogens, their surveillance and epidemiology, emerging resistance and resistant pathogens. This analysis is followed by a systematic presentation of currently applied methodology and technology, including advanced technologies for detection, intervention, and information technologies. This reference can be used as a practical guide for scientists, food engineers, and regulatory personnel as well as students in food safety, food microbiology, or food science. - Includes analysis of all major pathogens of concern - Provides many case studies and examples of fundamental research findings - Presents recent advances in methodologies and analytical software - Demonstrates risk assessment using information technologies in foodborne pathogens

Antibiotics represent one of the most successful forms of therapy in medicine. But the efficiency of antibiotics is compromised by the growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Antibiotic resistance, which is implicated in elevated morbidity and mortality rates as well as in the increased treatment costs, is considered to be one of the major global public health threats (www.who.int/drugresistance/en/) and the magnitude of the problem recently prompted a number of international and national bodies to take actions to protect the public (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/docs/road-map-amr_en.pdf: http://www.who.int/drugresistance/amr_global_action_plan/en/; http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf). Understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria successfully defend themselves against the antibiotic assault represent the main theme of this eBook published as a Research Topic in Frontiers in Microbiology, section of Antimicrobials, Resistance, and Chemotherapy. The articles in the eBook update the reader on various aspects and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. A better understanding of these mechanisms should facilitate the development of means to potentiate the efficacy and increase the lifespan of antibiotics while minimizing the emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens.

Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. But their use and misuse have resulted in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. This is now a significant health problem: each year in the European Union alone, over 25 000 people die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is also a food safety problem: antibiotic use in food animals--for treatment, disease prevention or growth promotion--allows resistant bacteria and resistance genes to spread from food animals to humans through the food-chain. This publication explores the options for prevention and containment of antibiotic resistance in the food-chain through national coordination and international cooperation, including the regulation and reduction of antibiotic use in food animals, training and capacity building, surveillance of resistance trends and antibiotic usage, promotion of knowledge and research, and advocacy and communication to raise awareness of the issues. This publication is primarily intended for policy-makers and authorities working in the public health, agriculture, food production and veterinary sectors, and offers them ways to take a holistic, intersectoral, multifaceted approach to this growing problem.

The use of drugs in food animal production has resulted in benefits throughout the food industry; however, their use has also raised public health safety concerns. The Use of Drugs in Food Animals provides an overview of why and how drugs are used in the major food-producing animal industriesâ€"poultry, dairy, beef, swine, and aquaculture. The volume discusses the prevalence of human pathogens in foods of animal origin. It also addresses the transfer of resistance in animal microbes to human pathogens and the resulting risk of human disease. The committee offers analysis and insight into these areas: Monitoring of drug residues. The book provides a brief overview of how the FDA and USDA monitor drug residues in foods of animal origin and describes quality assurance programs initiated by the poultry, dairy, beef, and swine industries. Antibiotic resistance. The committee reports what is known about this controversial problem and its potential effect on human health. The volume also looks at how drug use may be minimized with new approaches in genetics, nutrition, and animal management.

Tackling the realities of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) situation today is no longer uncommon. Many battles have been fought in the past since the discovery of antibiotics between man and microbes. In the tussle of new antibiotic modifications, the transmission of resistant genes, both vertically and horizontally unveils yet another resistant attribute for the microbe, for it only to be faced with a more powerful, wide spectrum antibiotic; the cycle continues-and the winner is yet to be known. This book aims to provide some insight into various molecular mechanisms, agricultural mitigation methods, and the One Health applications to maybe, just maybe, tip the scales towards us.

WHO has launched new guidelines on use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals, recommending that farmers and the food industry stop using antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals. These guidelines aim to help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are important for human medicine by reducing their use in animals.

The National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, published in 2014, sets out a plan for government work to mitigate the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. Direction on the implementation of this strategy is provided in five-year national action plans, the first covering 2015 to 2020, and the second covering 2020 to 2025. Combating Antimicrobial Resistance and Protecting the Miracle of Modern Medicine evaluates progress made against the national strategy. This report discusses ways to improve detection of resistant infections and estimate the risk to human health from environmental sources of resistance. In addition, the report considers the effect of agricultural practices on human and animal health and animal welfare and ways these practices could be improved, and advises on key drugs and diseases for which animal-specific test breakpoints are needed.