The Problem of Microbial Antibiotic Resistance in Poultry Production

The routine use of antibiotics as an integral part of poultry production has led to the emergence of pathogenic bacteria with multidrug resistance. In this industry, antibiotics are applied at sub-therapeutic doses to enhance meat production by improving feed conversion efficiency, promoting growth, and preventing poultry diseases. These effects are primarily achieved through the control of gastrointestinal infections and alteration of microbial balance in the gut. Antibiotics exert their effects by disrupting the synthesis of microbial cell walls, nucleic acids, amino acids, and proteins, ultimately resulting in bacterial cell death. In response, bacteria have developed the ability to adapt to the presence of antibiotics in their environment through genetic modifications within their own genome or by acquiring genetic material from other bacterial species. Because of these modifications, bacteria can alter the structure of their enzymes, rendering them inaccessible to antibiotics, reducing antibiotic activity or permeability into the bacterial cell, and actively expelling antibiotics that penetrate the cell. Analyzing the types The abundance of antibiotic resistance genes enables the assessment of the scale of the problem, as well as the identification of patterns in the emergence and dissemination of resistance genes across different environments and poultry populations. The accumulation and spread of these resistance genes in the poultry industry pose a significant threat to public health worldwide.