NEW DELHI: Rampant misuse of antibiotics in poultry farms is leading to large-scale antibiotic Resistance because of unsafe disposal of poultry litter and waste in agricultural land, says a new study by the Centre for Science and Environment.

The study -`Antibiotic Resistance in Poultry Environment’ -found that misuse of antibiotics in animals is leading to proliferation of multidrug resistant bacteria, which has a potential to infect human beings.

Anti-microbial resistance threatens effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, urinary tract infection (UTI) and even HIV. While all countries are struggling with the problem of rising Drug Resistance, India is primarily coping with antibiotic resistance which is posing an increasing threat to treating infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in medicine.

Currently, over 700,000 global deaths each year are attributed to drug resistance. In India, an additional two million lives can be lost by 2050 due to drug resistance. Findings show 100% of E coli, 92% of Klebsiellapneumoniae and 78% of Staphylococcus lentusisolated from poultry environment were multi-drug resistant. About 40% of E coli, 30% of Klebsiellapneumoniaeisolates were resistant to 10 of 13 antibiotics against which bacteria were tested for resistance.