Publicise antibiotics usage data for humans and livestock, says Hong Kong committee tackling superbugs
This follows a worrying sevenfold increase in five years of drug-resistant microbe in city
Drawing up a five-year plan and requiring doctors and livestock farmers to state how much antibiotics have been used are among proposals floated by government advisers to tackle the city’s superbug problem.
The calls came as a group of experts under the high-level Steering Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance met for the first time yesterday for discussions.
In March, the Consumer Council also urged the city’s nine major food chains to stop buying meat from farms feeding animals with antibiotics – one of the major sources of superbug transmission to humans.
Local efforts in curbing the use of antibiotics on livestock remained less significant as most meat in Hong Kong is imported.
Professor Peter Borriello, chief executive officer of Britain’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate, and one of the committee’s experts, said making public the drug data on human and animals would be helpful.