The European Food Safety Agency, with headquarters in Parma, Italy, organized an annual meeting on November 10 and 11 on the topic of monitoring of antimicrobial resistance.
For the first time ever, BiH participated in this meeting. The country was represented by the Dean of the Veterinary Faculty Nihad Fejzić, nominated by the BiH Food Safety Agency.
Fejzić stated that the world is concerned because the bacteria that cause human and animal diseases became resistant to existing antibiotics and that plans are being made which should solve the problem.
“In the veterinary segment, the focus is on controlled use of antibiotics in cattle production and animal treatment and on education of farmers and veterinaries. This problem is definitely interdisciplinary and a typical example of issues that unique health deals with,” said Fejzić.
Irregular and extensive use of antibiotics is not only medical issue, Fejzić claims.
According to Fejzić, due to increased consumption of meat in the world the antibiotics have become an integral part of food given to cows, pigs, chickens. Their task is to make the animals more resistant to infections.
Fejzić says that controls and sample gatherings should be more frequent, and not only in case of domestic producers.
“BiH is a country that imports a lot of food. That is why we need to place control systems on borders so that nothing can enter the country until we obtain the results of analysis. Only through good laboratory diagnostics and good control systems can we manage the limits of diseases and risks for our health. Needless to remind that the most endangered are impoverished countries, BiH being one of them, due to poor immunity of citizens and low investments in health sector,” said Fejzić.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)
