Campylobacter: The FDA says the use of quinolone antibiotics in chickens has compromised the health of thousands of Americans. This means that patients infected with Campylobacter were first treated with an antibiotic to which the bacteria was resistant, and thus had to be given more powerful medicines. Studies have shown that this delay in effective treatment leads to up to six times more complications—infections of the brain and the heart, and, the most frequent, serious complication noted, death.

In countries like Australia, which uses quinolones exclusively for humans, resistant bacteria are practically unknown.

E-Coli: More than 80 per cent of the E coli from beef, pork, and poultry products in the United States were resistant to one or more antibiotics and greater than half of the samples of poultry bacteria were resistant to more than five drugs.

Influenzavirus A: Even viruses get immune to drugs. The use of the antiviral drug Amantadine in China to farmed animals has been blamed for the emergence of widespread resistance of avian influenza strain H5N1 to a potentially life-saving drug that could be used in a human pandemic.

MRSA: Dangerously high rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) discovered in farm animals and retail meat in Europe led to increased scrutiny of the agricultural use of antibiotics. MRSA is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. This organism is known for causing skin infections in addition to many other types of infections.

Dutch agriculture, nature and food standards minister Cees Veerman has been reported as saying that “the high usage of antibiotics in livestock farming is the most important factor in the development of antibiotic resistance, a consequence of which is the spread of resistant microorganisms (MRSA included) in animal populations.”

Salmonella: There can be serious medical complications for humans who get infected with antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. In the 1980’s, the use of contaminated feed made out of farmed fish fed routine antibiotics, led to the dissemination of multidrug-resistant Salmonella worldwide. Salmonella kills hundreds of Americans every year, hospitalizes thousands, and sickens more than a million. The Indian government does not have such records.

The CDC is especially concerned about the recent rapid emergence of a strain resistant to nine separate antibiotics, including ceftriaxone, the primary treatment used in children. The poor ventilation, high dust levels, high stocking density, and stress levels in modern commercial chicken production have been blamed for potentially contributing to the extent of the problem.