In “Evolution of Infectious Disease”, 1996, Dr. Paul Ewald, an evolutionary biologist, proposed the faster pathogens are transmitted from person-to-person, the more virulent and resistant to treatment the pathogens become. In “Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease”, 2000, Dr. Ewald proposed that antibiotic resistance is of greater concern when treating acute disease, because pathogens are transmitted more quickly and easily from person-to-person during acute disease than in chronic disease. He also proposed the same antibiotics should never be fed to animals for the same diseases the antibiotics are used for in humans, or the antibiotics would become ineffective.
Antibiotic resistant organisms have existed for thousands of years. In 2008, in the U.S., animals consumed 29M pounds of antibiotics—humans consumed 3M pounds. People can acquire antibiotic resistant organisms from eating animals and animal products, produced from animals fed antibiotics to enhance growth and overcome unsanitary living conditions. The overuse of antibiotics in animals is accelerating the problem of antibiotic resistance in humans.
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