Hyderabad: Now, health threat from veggies too

Hyderabad: Colistin-resistant bacteria have been found in samples of vegetables picked up from different markets in South India. Colistin is an antibiotic used to treat certain infections in humans. Its use in farming will affect the efficacy of the drug when used in humans. The samples were collected for testing for a study by the Apollo Hospitals. Resistance to colistin showed up in 46.4 per cent of samples of tomatoes and other green vegetables. 

This was a random sampling, but now more samples are being collected to check the use of the drug in farming. Colistin is allegedly widely used in the Indian poultry industry. The National Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended to the Government of India that the use of colistin be banned in poultry farms.

Cardiologist Dr K.K. Aggarwal, explains that “Colistin is called holy water in the practice of medicine. It is often the last resort for patients who are extremely sick. Resistance to colistin is already an issue in clinical practice. It was mostly suspected to be in chicken but now with raw samples being tested, the presence of resistant bacteria means that it is finding its way into the vegetable farm sector.”

The use of litter from animal farms where antibiotics are used, as manure in fruit and vegetable farming has resulted in the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the food chain.

The exact way resistance to antibiotics develops is still being studied by scientists and researchers. The research on antibiotic resistance is at a nascent stage as there is only an understanding at the clinical level when the antibiotic drugs stop working. But how the cellular and molecular process in the human body cause this resistance is still not understood properly.

For this reason, antibiotics must be very sparingly used. Doctors are told not to prescribe antibiotics for simple fevers, coughs and colds and other such illnesses. Even dentists have been found by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan committee to prescribe too many antibiotics.

Dr P. Menon, senior microbiologist, says, “we need a multi-pronged strategy as the use of antibiotics has to be reduced in humans and also in poultry farms. It has to be a simultaneous effort to control the rampant misuse of antibiotics. Farmers and the food industry must stop using antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance.”