The European Medicines Agency (EMA) wants to slash agricultural use of colistin, a last-ditch antibiotic in treatment of infection and disease in humans, by two-thirds, said Reuters. The regulatory agency issued its call at the same time the MCR-1 gene, which enables bacteria to resist colistin, was identified for the first time in the United States in a human and separately in a sample from a hog.
Colistin is not used in animal agriculture in the United States and is rarely used in human medicine compared to other antimicrobials, says USDA. “As such, the new detection underscores the need for more research in this area,” said USDA, Defense Department and CDC officials in a joint statement. The MCR-1 gene was confirmed in a woman being treated at a military-related clinic and in an intestinal sample from a hog. Just as the Defense Department and CDC are investigating the woman became infected, USDA is trying to determine the farm that was home to the pig that carried the MCR-1 gene.
USDA scientists say the MCR-1-carrying colistin-resistant E. coli also resisted other antibiotics, including ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline.
The EMA said farm use of colistin, widely used in farming, should be restricted to a maximum of 5 milligrams per adjusted kilogram of livestock, which would equate to a 65 percent reduction in sales of colistin for veterinary use in the EU, said Reuters. Ideally, consumption of 1 milligram or less would be desirable, said the agency. Use in Denmark and the Netherlands is below that level, while nations such as Spain and Italy have consumption rates that are much higher.
Existence of the MCR-1 gene was first reported last November by British and Chinese researchers, who found it in people, animals and meat in several regions of China. Since then, it has been found in at least 20 countries around the world, says National Geographic.