VegEco
Animals

Zoonotic disease, antibiotics and pandemic risk

Antimicrobial resistance, avian influenza in poultry and dairy herds, swine flu reassortment, and the surveillance gaps in dense animal populations.

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Questions this hub answers

How much of the world's antibiotics go to farmed animals?
Roughly two-thirds of global antimicrobial use is in livestock, much of it for growth promotion or routine disease prevention rather than treating sick individuals.
Does factory farming increase pandemic risk?
Dense, genetically uniform populations of animals in close contact with humans provide efficient conditions for viral amplification and reassortment, which is why epidemiologists treat intensive poultry and pig systems as a priority risk.