One Health Systems: Linking Livestock-Derived Food, Antibiotic Use, and Human Health

Dear Colleagues,

Livestock farming is critically important to humans. Livestock and their derived products contribute an estimated USD 1.61–3.3 trillion to the global economy and over 1 billion people are employed in the livestock industry value chain. Use of livestock in research benefits human health. Livestock-derived products are used to produce important pharmaceuticals. However, most importantly, livestock provide quality food and nutrients for humans. Adequate supply of quality-animal-source protein is critical in the early stages of child development where deficiencies can result in foetal intrauterine growth restriction, poor cognitive development and compromised early post-partum child growth and development. Rich in essential fatty acids, the long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA, animal source foods are critical for energy metabolism and immune system development and maturation. Fat-soluble vitamins and minerals in animal source foods are substrates for co-enzymes and co-factors required for maintenance of homeostasis.

The livestock-human-environment interactions impact food and nutrition security, consumer and livestock health and environmental well-being. This triad of interaction must be carefully managed to protect human, livestock and environmental health and welfare. Antibiotics continue to be used to fortify livestock feeds as growth promoters at sub-therapeutic doses to mediate reductions in morbidity and mortality and increase performance and feed use efficiency and increase profitability. However, due to the growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis, use of antibiotics to fortify feeds as growth promoters comes at a cost to consumer and livestock health due to the public health challenge of antibiotic resistance and the inadvertent pollution of the environment. Despite the restriction of antibiotic use as growth promoting feed additives in some EU countries, the USA and China, such restrictions, however, are yet to reach many LMICs, hence the continued public health challenge of antibiotic resistance.

Medicinal plant extracts, crude and pure phytochemicals exhibit health beneficial biological activities that can be exploited in livestock farming. Their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities can be leveraged on to promote desirable gut flora, reduce competition for nutrients between the host animal and gut microbiota and to enhance overall gut health. So, these extracts can be used as growth promoting feed additives in place of antibiotics and as veterinary ethnomedicines. Similarly, bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect and replicate in bacterial cells, are a potentially natural alternatives to antibiotics in livestock agriculture. Lytic bacteriophages destroy bacteria and can be used to manage difficult bacterial infections in livestock farming. Use of natural plant-derived compounds, bacteriophages and probiotics in livestock agriculture hold promise to significantly contribute towards One Health approach in the production of livestock products for human consumption.

With the express aim to publish research that amalgamates the One Health Approach in the production of animal source foods for human consumption, we invite you to submit original manuscripts and review articles that address the use and challenges of use antibiotics as feed supplements, their impact on livestock  performance, health, welfare and product quality as well as consumer and environmental health. Topics of interest include the following:

Antibiotic use in livestock production: patterns and routes of antibiotic administration in cattle, small ruminants, pigs and poultry comparing therapeutic to growth-promoting uses.  

Pathways of AMR: mechanisms of emergence of resistant bacteria in livestock and spread to humans via direct contact and environment and through food chains.

Food safety and public health risks: contamination of eggs, meat and milk with resistant pathogens and antibiotic residues as well as their implications on consumer health.

Environmental impacts of routine antibiotic use in livestock agriculture: antibiotic residues in livestock waste (manure), soil and water and their ecological effects and indirect human exposure.

Global trade and policy: how international trade in livestock, livestock source foods affect AMR spread due to differences in antibiotic use regulation.  

Surveillance and monitoring systems: integrated tracking of antibiotic use and resistance in veterinary, agricultural and human health sectors.

Alternative practices: use of bacteriophages, biosecurity measures, phytogenics, probiotics, vaccines as well as improved husbandry to reduce reliance on antibiotics.

Socio-economic and cultural factors: farmer practices, consumers awareness of antibiotic-free livestock products and demand for cheap animal source protein.

One Health governance models: stakeholder collaborative frameworks that bring together environmental, medical and veterinary agencies to address AMR.    

Future directions: role of innovation in diagnostics, use of computational tools and programming, machine learning algorithms to predict AMR trends, precision farming and the global WHO, FAO and OIE initiatives for risk mitigation.

We invite you to submit and share your reviews and recent research findings in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Eliton Chivandi
Prof. Dr. John Mupangwa
Guest Editors

Dr. Zibusiso Mkandla
Guest Editor Assistant 

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