Are there alternatives to antibiotics?

A brief summary of the manuscript, Alternatives to Antibiotics: Why and How (Allen, 2017), a review of current and potential alternatives to antibiotics for use in human or veterinary medicine.

Key Takeaways:

  • Every time antibiotics are used, impacted bacteria adapt to survive. Bacteria that are not killed by the antibiotic pass on their new survival traits to later generations of bacteria, which limit the effect of the antibiotic the next time it is used.
  • Antibiotics are not the only way to treat bacterial diseases. Alternative treatment methods to consider include vaccines, immunotherapeutics, bacteriophage therapy, and probiotics.

Continue reading “Are there alternatives to antibiotics?”

Antimicrobial Resistance in Developing Countries: Current State and Controlling Strategies

In most developing countries, access to antimicrobial drugs is as easy as a run to the grocery store or nearby pharmacy – with or without a prescription from a medical professional. Even with a prescription, patients may not complete their doses, or they may not fully recover from an infection that then continues after the duration of the medicine. How does this unregulated use of antibiotics and related medications relate to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in developing countries and what strategies may help mitigate this increasing health crisis? Continue reading “Antimicrobial Resistance in Developing Countries: Current State and Controlling Strategies”

Health Impacts of Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations

logoLocal communities are increasingly interested in being “healthy communities” and using community design to improve health. Understanding how animal feeding operations fit into healthy communities is important to the social, physical and economic health of many communities. Interviews with Dr. Steven Kirkhorn and Dr. Susanna Von Essen provide a summary about air emissions and their impacts on workers and public health.

More Videos in This Series

Additional educational materials are available at Air Quality in Animal Agriculture

Acknowledgements

For more information about this video or these resources, contact Dr. Kevin Janni, University of Minnesota kjanni@umn.edu

These materials were based upon work supported by the by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture under Agreement No. 2010-85112-20520.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video are those of the speaker and do not reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.