Antibiotics-resistant genes more common in China

A recent study led by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that mainland Chinese citizens have 70 antibiotics-resistant genes in their gut microbes, compared with 45 in Denmark and 49 in Spain.

While natural genetics might partly explain the gap, antibiotics abuse is the major reason, argued Zhu Baoli, head of the team. 'According to our study the most abused antibiotics were tetracycline, penicillin, amoxicillin and erythromycin. Tetracycline actually has been widely used to feed animals in farms,' he said, promoting anti-tetracycline resistance amongst bacteria.

The findings back up research carried out in 2010 in Shandong and Liaoning provinces conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which showed about 50% of farmers in the region fed animals with antibiotics. China’s current regulation on the maximum residue of veterinary drugs was issued in 2002 and covers a limited range of medicines. Also, there are few prescribed official methods for residue detection.

For human antibiotics, China issued a new regulation in August 2012 limiting their use because of fears about superbugs. NDM-1, the superbug identified in 2009, was first reported in China in 2010, for instance, with Dr Zhu stressing how the pathogen 'requires the use of new antibiotics'.