Implications on Public Health of Quinolone Resistance in Bacteria of Animal Origin

Abstract

Fluoroquinolones are one of the most useful classes of antimicrobial agents used in human and animal medicine today, both because of their spectrum and their physicochemical properties. The use of quinolones in animals is a matter of special concern because it could contribute to the acquisition of resistance in foodborn bacteria (such as Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and Escherichia coli) and this, in turn, could lead to a reduction in the efficacy of such compounds in treating infections in humans. However, the causal relationship between the use of fluoroquinolones in veterinary medicine and the isolation of fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria in humans has not been generally proven and, moreover, the use of fluoroquinolones in animals is only one of the many factors implicated in the resistance to these antimicrobials. Even so, the surveillance of fluoroquinolone resistance in bacteria isolated from animals and foods and the prudent use of these antimicrobials in animals should have the highest priority.