Government mulls restictions on unrestricted use of antibiotics

Though the government has rejected the drug resistant superbug Lancet study, its own paper in the form of a 'National policy for containment of antimicrobial resistance' had voiced concern over the unregulated use of antibiotics.

The policy uploaded on the National Centre for Disease Control website yesterday says that resistant forms of bacteria may spread from animals or the environment (groundwater / surface water / soil) to humans.'' It recommends a ban on non-therapeutic usage of antibiotics in animals and on farm produce.

According to experts, there was scientific consensus that antibiotics use in livestock, could, at times be detrimental to human health. Antibiotics are now being widely used in livestock to promote growth and to prevent and treat infections. However, no regulatory provision regarding the use of antibiotics in livestock currently exists in the country.

WHO too had concluded that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that ''the major transmission pathway for resistant bacteria is from food animals to humans'' which has resulted in ''increased frequency of treatment failure (in some cases deaths) and severity of infections''. The world health body has called for stricter legislation to minimise antimicrobial usage in livestock as it might pose a significant risk to the human health.

The government is meanwhile, looking at colour coding of third-generation antibiotics and limiting access to such drugs strictly to tertiary hospitals. Other measures under consideration are offering special ''incentives'' to pharmacists ''for not selling antibiotics without prescription and formulating an appropriate regulation for the same''

Meanwhile the health ministry called a meeting of various municipal bodies in New Delhi to discuss the superbug report. According to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) they had written to the editor of Lancet Infectious Diseases journal taking strong exception to the bug being named after the city as New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1.

The editor of Lancet, which published the first report on the  presence of the new bug replied that they could not use the piece sent by NCDC.

Later, the editor, Dr Richard Horton admitted that naming a bacterium after a city had been an error of judgment.