Antibiotic use in Animals

[cakadu]

A recent posting from Animal Net at the University of Guelph talks about the use of a Cipro equivalent - Baytril in chicken feed. The article actually ran in the New York Times and goes on to say that the FDA, doctors, consumer groups and even a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine are lending support to having Baytril removed on the grounds that there could be reduced efficacy of Cipro in humans in the future.

I'd be curious to know what you think about anitibiotic use in seemingly healthy animals and at what point will we say that the "norm" should be altered?

[alexoderkirk]

The first question with antibiotic use is " Why is this antibiotic being used?" For sick animals the use of antibiotics should not be restricted. The use of antibiotics shouldn't be to cover misguided management or farm health programs. I agree with the quote in the Ontario Farmer which states" Farmers...should be instructed in and encouraged to implememnt management, immunization, housing and nutritional programs that prevent and reduce the incidence of disease and therefore antimicrobial use."

Are there comments on this question:
Are ordinary microrganisms(bacteria, viruses, etc.) suseptible to ALL antibiotics or are they suseptible to specific antibiotics?