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06/02/2023 ---- 08/02/2023

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08.02.2023
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

The actual use of antibiotic in farming is much higher than reported

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections more complicated to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics, are medicines used to treat infections in humans, animals and plants. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications become ineffective, and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens that have acquired new resistance mechanisms, leading to antimicrobial resistance, continue to threaten our ability to treat common infections. In general, it is through the intensive use of antibiotics that microbes evolve to become resistant. Especially alarming is the rapid global spread of multi- and pan-resistant bacteria (also known as "superbugs") that cause infections that are not treatable with existing antimicrobial medicines such as antibiotics. On top of this growing issue, the clinical pipeline of new antimicrobials is "dry". In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified 32 antibiotics in clinical development that address the WHO list of priority pathogens, of which only six were classified as innovative.

A significant contribution to antimicrobial resistance is the use of antibiotics in animal farming. Although antibiotics can be necessary to treat infections in livestock, they are often used to speed up animal growth and prevent diseases among animals in crowded, unsanitary conditions. Researchers struggle to calculate the antibiotics used in particular countries because most do not publicly release their agricultural-antibiotic usage data. Many release the data to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), which groups countries' antibiotics data into continents - so that is all that researchers can see. However, around 40% of countries do not report antibiotic use. Two epidemiologists at the Swiss federal institute of technology (ETH) analysed antibiotic usage in animal farming by collecting data from individual governments, farm surveys and scientific articles that reported veterinary use of antibiotics. They cross-referenced these with data on farm-animal populations worldwide and on antibiotic sales from the 42 countries that reported those data publicly. The team calculated that antibiotic use in Africa is probably twice what WOAH writes, and use in Asia is 50% higher than reported. China is currently using more antibiotics in farming than any other country. Pakistan will experience the highest use growth between 2020 and 2030. The researchers also estimate that antibiotic use will grow the fastest in Africa, rising by 25% between 2020 and 2030 owing to increased demand for meat products. Making usage data more publicly accessible could lead to increased accountability for countries and agricultural producers that do not use antibiotics responsibly.

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06.02.2023
THEME: WORLD

Hundreds deads in Turkey and Syria as catastrophic 7.8 earthquake hits

A powerful earthquake hit Southern Turkey and Northern Syria in the early hours of Monday morning. According to the Turkish and Syrian authorities, thousands of people have been injured, and hundreds have been found dead. The 7.8 magnitude heartquake struck near the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on Twitter that "search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched" to the areas hit by the quake. Residents have been helping rescue workers to pull survivors among the debris. To complicate the intervention, ice and snow are covering roads. The earthquake's impact was so huge that tremors could be felt in Lebanon, Cyprus, and Egypt. In Damascus, buildings shook, and many people rushed onto the streets in fear. In a briefing, Turkey's vice president said that around 1,700 buildings had collapsed. Syria's state media also reported that some buildings had collapsed in Aleppo and the central city of Hama. Authorities confirmed that this is, so far, the most powerful earthquake on record in the region. However, heartquakes are not new in the zone: in 2011 and 1999, two more were hit with a power magnitude of 7.1 and 7.6, respectively. The reaction from international leaders was prompt in offering assistance to Turkey and Syria. Germany, the US, the EU and all NATO members expressed complete solidarity and are now coordinating interventions with President Erdogan.

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