Quantifying Human Health Risks from Virginiamycin Use in Food Animals in China.

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Public Health
• Microbiology

Background:

• Virginiamycin (VM) is an antibiotic used in food animals.
• Quinupristin-Dalfopristin (QD) is used for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) infections in humans.
• Concerns exist that VM use in animals may select for QD-resistant E. faecium, impacting human VREF treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively estimate potential human health risks associated with QD-resistant VREF infections resulting from VM use in food animals in China.
• To assess the impact of VM on the effectiveness of streptogramin antibiotics in human medicine.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative risk assessment modeling was employed.
• Conservative, risk-maximizing scenarios were used for estimations.
• Assumptions included 100% resistance to other antibiotics and high QD prescription rates for VREF patients.

Main Results:

• Potential human health risks from VM use in animals in China are estimated to be small or zero.
• The most likely risk scenario is zero, particularly if resistance does not transfer from animal to human bacteria.
• Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses confirmed the robustness of the findings.

Conclusions:

• Potential future human health risks from VM use in food animals in China appear negligible.
• These risks remain small even if QD is approved for human use.
• The study addresses concerns regarding antibiotic resistance transfer from animal agriculture to human populations.