

Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP
Does the use of low-dose antibiotics in livestock put human health at risk?
Zoonoses—infectious diseases, such as SARS and mad cow, that originate in animals and spread to humans—reveal how intimately animal and human health are linked. Complicating this relationship further, when livestock are given antibiotics to increase growth, it can lead to resistant bacteria. Unfortunately, there are few formal channels for practitioners of human medicine and veterinary medicine to communicate about threats to public health. To address this problem, Dr. Laura H. Kahn and her colleagues are promoting the...
Does the use of low-dose antibiotics in livestock put human health at risk?
Zoonoses—infectious diseases, such as SARS and mad cow, that originate in animals and spread to humans—reveal how intimately animal and human health are linked. Complicating this relationship further, when livestock are given antibiotics to increase growth, it can lead to resistant bacteria. Unfortunately, there are few formal channels for practitioners of human medicine and veterinary medicine to communicate about threats to public health. To address this problem, Dr. Laura H. Kahn and her colleagues are promoting the One Health concept, which seeks to increase communication and collaboration between professionals in human, animal, and environmental health.
In One Health and the Politics of Antimicrobial Resistance, Dr. Kahn investigates the use of antibiotics and the surge in antimicrobial resistance in food animals and humans from a One Health perspective. Although the medical community has blamed the problem on agricultural practices, the agricultural community insists that antibiotic resistance is the result of indiscriminate use of antibiotics in human medicine. Dr. Kahn argues that this blame game has fueled the politics of antibiotic resistance and hindered the development of effective policies to address the worsening crisis.
Combining painstaking research with unprecedented access to international data, the book analyzes the surprising outcomes of differing policy approaches to antibiotic resistance around the globe. By integrating the perspectives of both medicine and agriculture and exploring the history and science behind the widespread use of growth-promoting antibiotics, One Health and the Politics of Antimicrobial Resistance examines the controversy in a unique way while offering policy recommendations that all sides can accept.
Some of her impartial findings will surprise readers and completely recolor the current conversation on antimicrobial resistance. Give a copy of this book to your legislators today.
The author demonstrates her command of both the politics and the science of establishing medication guidelines throughout the book and approaches the subject with professional objectivity.
Some of her impartial findings will surprise readers and completely recolor the current conversation on antimicrobial resistance. Give a copy of this book to your legislators today.
As a veterinarian who follows all policies on antimicrobial resistance closely, I greatly enjoyed reading this book as it provided a holistic, multidisciplinary and well-analysed perspective on the different policies followed and their consequences. For those involved in policies and research around antimicrobial resistance this book will be a must-read. Furthermore, I recommend it to all libraries of medicine, veterinary science and public health schools and research centres all over the world.
Laura H Kahn has assembled a timely, detailed and unbiased compendium of history, facts and statistics about the use and abuse of antibiotics in animals and humans and the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.
An incredibly timely and original book by a skilled writer at the forefront of the One Health movement. Dr. Kahn makes the interrelationships between animal health, human health, and agriculture come alive.
1. The Politics
2. A Brief History of Meat Production and Antibiotics
3. The British Experience
4. Lessons from Sweden
5. Lessons from Denmark
6. The European Experience
7. The Controversy in the United
1. The Politics
2. A Brief History of Meat Production and Antibiotics
3. The British Experience
4. Lessons from Sweden
5. Lessons from Denmark
6. The European Experience
7. The Controversy in the United States
8. International Challenges
9. Environmental and Pharmaceutical Discoveries and Challenges
10. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Notes
Index
with Hopkins Press Books