What is Colistin?
Colistin is extensively used in veterinary practices as a growth promoter. This is an antibiotic used widely in polluter for Chickens to grow faster earlier.
It
basically kills the animal’s gut bacteria, and that results in greater
absorption of animal feed, and that’s how their body grows faster. Up to 70% of
antibiotics manufactured in the world are used as a growth promoter in animals.
The worry
Daily use
of antibiotics creates a condition among all animals including human. Daily
diet of antibiotics when becomes routine does not work as anti- biotic and
leads to anti biotic resistant bacteria, that means if an infection happens due
to bacteria, the medicine will no longer be effective.
So, the
extensive usage of Colistin in animals leads to generation of
colistin-resistant bacteria in poultry and freshwater fish. The use of chicken
litter as a manure in agriculture results in the transmission of the
colistin-resistant bacteria to vegetables.
There
is a greater risk of transmission of colistin-resistant bacteria from fresh
vegetables and meat to humans. Though cooking kills the bacteria, the
possibility of cross-contamination of the bacteria prior to cooking serves as
mode of entry into humans.
Around the
Globe:
Though
colistin-resistant bacteria have been found in food samples in more than 30
countries, this is the first time researchers in India have looked for and
found them in fresh food.
In
India, Colistin-resistant bacteria were found in 46% vegetable, meat
and fish samples in Chennai A study carried out in Chennai has found
bacteria resistant to colistin drug, a last-line antibiotic, in 51 of the 110
(46%) fresh food samples (poultry, mutton, fish, and vegetables) tested.
Many
countries including China have already banned the use of colistin as a growth
promoter. India is now planning a similar ban.
More importantly, the researchers, led by Dr. Abdul Ghafur of Apollo Cancer
Institute, Chennai, have for the first time uncovered the mechanism by which Klebsiella
pneumoniae bacteria in food samples develop resistance to colistin
