Afrida Ahmed
All over the world farmers are feeding antibiotics to animals on a huge scale, reports BBC. It’s done to keep animals healthy and reduce meat prices. But overuse of antibiotics is causing a massive public health crisis. We are in danger of going back to the dark ages of medicine. This is the story of how one country dramatically reversed the trend. This happened all because of the plight of one little girl.
When she wasn’t operated she could die. It was very dangerous at that moment. Eric Van Den Heuval is a dutch pig farmer. His daughter Eveline was born with a heart defect and in 2003 she needed an urgent operation. Eric said that when they went to the hospital, the doctor said that ‘she is MRSA positive. She can’t come.’ It leaves a huge impact on the father when his daughter is sick and can’t be operated. MRSA is a ‘Superbug’ which means resistant to antibiotics. Across the world by 2050, 10 million people could die every year from drug resistant infections. And Eric had another shock. The MRSA had come from the pigs on his farm. He said that this moment had changed the life for his and for the total family. Then they made a total change in hygiene in the farm.
Eveline’s story inspired to change across the Netherlands. Prof. Jaap Wagenaar said that when they reduce the use of antimicrobials in animals, they see a reduction of the resistance in animals and that will definitely have n effect also on the public health. The story with Eric and his daughter that couldn’t be operated is very sad. Gerbert Dosterlaken, the pig farmer led a grassroots movement. He got a group of farmers and vets together. They worked out the best ways to keep the pigs healthy without antibiotics. He now separates pigs into 4 hygienic zones to stop bacteria from spreading. He said that anybody could tell by the way these pigs look, the way they shine that these pigs are very healthy. So he has less mortality, better production and it’s easier.
His techniques are now promoted by the Dutch Government. Antibiotics use in animals is down by 65%. He said that he is very proud of what they had achieved as a little group. They managed to get a movement in the Dutch way of animals farming.
Eric and Gilbert are extremely important because they were the one of the first ones to come up with examples of how you can reduce antimicrobial use on your farm. They act as ambassador for the farmers to show to their colleagues and peers what the options are. There is a happy ending for Eric. His daughter is 16 years old and is very healthy. MRSA is now free.