59
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
H. Panwar et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 46, Sustainable
Agriculture Reviews 46, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53024-2_3
Chapter 3
Antimicrobial Resistance, Food Systems
and Climate Change
Mashkoor Mohsin, Ahtesham Ahmad Shad, Jabir Ali,
and Sajjad-ur-Rahman
Abstract Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threat to global health,
food security, and development today. Every year, antimicrobial resistant infections
kill 700,000 people across the globe. If dramatic actions are not taken soon, this
number could skyrocket, reaching ten million deaths annually by 2050. The rapid
emergence of antimicrobial-resistant infections is exacerbated by the irrantional use
of antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine and in the agriculture industry.
Antimicrobial use is considered to be the single most important factor leading to
resistance. Demand for meat is rising with the increase in world population, driving
the expansion of large commercial livestock and poultry farming where antibiotics
are frequently used in for treatment, prophylactic and growth promotion to ensure
safe and sufficient food. A growing world population, temperature and the increasing food demand has put immense pressure on our food supply chains and food
systems. Partly driven by public concerns over antimicrobial resistance, the food
industry is slowly shifting away from meat raised with antibiotics. Recently, climatic factor like an increase in global temperature has also been attributed to be
contributing towards emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
Here we review, the issue of antimicrobial resistance in relation to the antibiotic
use in food animals, climate change and food security. Firstly, we discussed concepts and consequences of antimicrobial resistance, food security and climate
change. Later, we addressed the connections and interplay between antimicrobial
resistant microorganisms and anthropogenic climate changes in relation to food
safety and security. We found that mainstreaming antimicrobial resistance into
broader universal health coverage, sustainable development, food system and environment agendas is key, both to scaling and to sustaining efforts to address antimicrobial resistance. A positive correlation between an increase in temperature with an
increase in antimicrobial resistance has been found. These ongoing challenges suggest that the burden of antimicrobial resistance could be significantly underestimated in the face of a growing population and climate change.
M. Mohsin (*) · A. A. Shad · J. Ali · Sajjad-ur-Rahman
Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
e-mail: mashkoormohsin@uaf.edu.pk
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
H. Panwar et al. (eds.), Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 46, Sustainable
Agriculture Reviews 46, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53024-2_3
Chapter 3
Antimicrobial Resistance, Food Systems
and Climate Change
Mashkoor Mohsin, Ahtesham Ahmad Shad, Jabir Ali,
and Sajjad-ur-Rahman
Abstract Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threat to global health,
food security, and development today. Every year, antimicrobial resistant infections
kill 700,000 people across the globe. If dramatic actions are not taken soon, this
number could skyrocket, reaching ten million deaths annually by 2050. The rapid
emergence of antimicrobial-resistant infections is exacerbated by the irrantional use
of antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine and in the agriculture industry.
Antimicrobial use is considered to be the single most important factor leading to
resistance. Demand for meat is rising with the increase in world population, driving
the expansion of large commercial livestock and poultry farming where antibiotics
are frequently used in for treatment, prophylactic and growth promotion to ensure
safe and sufficient food. A growing world population, temperature and the increasing food demand has put immense pressure on our food supply chains and food
systems. Partly driven by public concerns over antimicrobial resistance, the food
industry is slowly shifting away from meat raised with antibiotics. Recently, climatic factor like an increase in global temperature has also been attributed to be
contributing towards emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
Here we review, the issue of antimicrobial resistance in relation to the antibiotic
use in food animals, climate change and food security. Firstly, we discussed concepts and consequences of antimicrobial resistance, food security and climate
change. Later, we addressed the connections and interplay between antimicrobial
resistant microorganisms and anthropogenic climate changes in relation to food
safety and security. We found that mainstreaming antimicrobial resistance into
broader universal health coverage, sustainable development, food system and environment agendas is key, both to scaling and to sustaining efforts to address antimicrobial resistance. A positive correlation between an increase in temperature with an
increase in antimicrobial resistance has been found. These ongoing challenges suggest that the burden of antimicrobial resistance could be significantly underestimated in the face of a growing population and climate change.
M. Mohsin (*) · A. A. Shad · J. Ali · Sajjad-ur-Rahman
Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
e-mail: mashkoormohsin@uaf.edu.pk