Antibiotic resistance development and identification of response measures

Antibiotic resistance in human pathogens is becoming a major threat to human health. This is partly due to agriculture, because large amounts of antibiotics are used to treat animals, which encourages resistant genes to appear and transfer to humans through foodstuffs. This is a food safety issue.
Measures against selection of resistance in agriculture have long been limited to monitoring. The scientific knowledge acquired in recent years can be used to introduce cost-effective measures, such as harmonized monitoring and prudent usage, which should be enforced by the competent national authorities. Some antibiotics should be reserved for human use only and this should be reviewed regularly.