Consequences on emergence of resistant bacteria from the use of antibacterials in animal husbandry.

Concern over the appearance of resistant bacteria in domestic animals and birds led in Great Britain to the establishment of a Government Committee of Enquiry on the use of antibiotics in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine known as the Swan Committee. This Committee made a number of recommendations about surveillance and control of diseases of animals communicable to man which included the establishment of a system of data collection. These recommendations were incorporated in a legal statute, the Zoonoses Order of 1975. Data on the incidence of salmonellosis and of antibiotic resistance in Great Britain are presented in this paper together with a consideration of the epidemiology of salmonellosis and its control.