House Reviews Use of Antimicrobials

I believe the judicious use of antimicrobials is important to animal agriculture, however, I also believe that the danger of potential microbial resistance is such that better attention to disease prevention should precede the use of antimicrobials. In cattle, one excellent way to improve heard health is through pro-active diagnostic testing. In particular, testing for animals persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVD) and removing positive animals from the herd can greatly reduce the incidence of disease and thus reduce the need for antibiotics or antimicrobials. BVD is both a direct, disease causing agent and an immuno suppressant. As an immuno suppressant, it makes the animal's immune sytem more vulnerable to attack by bacteria that may be present in the environment. For futher information on BVD-PI animals, see this post. For related issues see this post and this post.

Subcommittee Reviews Antimicrobial Use and Animal Health Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Leonard Boswell, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, held a hearing to review advances in animal health, particularly the use of antimicrobials in the livestock industry.
The subcommittee...(complete news release here).