From Thai shrimp to Ontario chickens, numerous animals along with their human consumers and owners face growing health threats from resistance to drugs intended to fight microbial infections.

More than two hundred Canadian and international experts in veterinary and human medicine, public health, food safety and environmental health ─ including University of Guelph researchers ─ will gather next month in Toronto to discuss Canada’s role in tackling antimicrobial resistance in animals. The Antimicrobial Stewardship in Canadian Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine conference will take place Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 at the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs as bugs learn to defend themselves against drugs meant to fight them. Up to 10 per cent of resistant bugs affecting people may stem from antimicrobial drugs used in animals, including food and companion animals.

“Resistance is not just a problem in human medicine,” says pathobiology professor John Prescott, a co-organizer of the event who studies antibiotic alternatives for chickens. “A lot of antibiotics are used in food animals as well as in horses and pets.”

Many small steps will help in reducing the resistance problem, he says, including better infection control, altering dosage amounts, improved veterinary practices and better animal care.

Less complex regulation might also help. Although Ottawa approves use of antimicrobial drugs, the provinces control their use. Rules also vary from one country to another.

Conference delegates will discuss the extent of resistance in animals in Canada and how to address the problem. Prescott helped organize two similar gatherings in 1999 and 2005.

“Although this is very much a national conference, there’s a huge amount of expertise in this area at the University of Guelph,” he says.

• Prof. Scott McEwen, Department of Population Medicine, has consulted on food safety and antibiotic resistance with the World Health Organization, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and Health Canada.
• Pathobiologist Scott Weese has looked at the drug-resistant “superbug” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in companion and farm animals. He co-writes the popular Worms and Germs blog on zoonotic diseases, which pass between animals and people.
• Conference co-organizer Patrick Boerlin, Department of Pathobiology, has studied E. coli and Salmonella genes involved in antimicrobial resistance in farm animals and pets.
• In the past 15 years, about 50 graduate students at the Ontario Veterinary College have studied aspects of antimicrobial resistance in animals and food.

In addition to U of G specialists, the conference will draw farmers, veterinarians, doctors, policy-makers, regulators and other academics to discuss antibiotic resistance in cattle, horses, pets, poultry, pigs and other animals. Prescott says the stewardship focus underlines the shared responsibility for better use of antimicrobial drugs to reduce resistance.

For more information, visit www.antimicrobialcanada.com.