Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food is rife in Southeast Asia, a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said on Wednesday, warning of serious risks for people and animals as bacterial infections become more resistant to treatment. The official from the United Nations' food agency issued the warning on the sidelines of an international meeting in Bangkok focused on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth told Reuters in Bangkok that threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was magnified in places, like Asia's megacities, where there was high population growth and intense food and agriculture production. "Here in Southeast Asia - we would consider it a hotpot because of the population growth, urbanization dynamics, the production of food," Lubroth told Reuters.
A report published on Monday by the World Health Organization said that a new global surveillance system had found widespread occurrence of antibiotic resistance among 500,000 people with suspected bacterial infections across 22 countries. "Some of the world's most common - and potentially most dangerous - infections are proving drug-resistant," Marc Sprenger, director of WHO's Antimicrobial Resistance Secretariat, said in a statement.