Combating Antimicrobial Resistance with Technology

Originally Published in Western Livestock Journal

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important issues facing producers, veterinarians and the medical community today. Beef cattle producers can play a major role in combating antimicrobial resistance by implementing better management practices and new technologies, but first it’s important to understand why antimicrobial resistance exists. Dr. Peter Wunderlich, DVM said part of the issue is simply that these organisms were created to adapt and survive.

“Antimicrobial resistance is real,” Wunderlich said. “Biology, physiology and mother nature are a lot smarter than we are and these pathogens were created to survive.”

How can producers help combat these ever-adapting pathogens? Dr. Wunderlich said making a more accurate diagnosis, implementing emerging technologies and overall better herd health management practices will make an impact on antimicrobial resistance in beef cattle operations, veterinary medicine and ultimately human medicine.

“Part of the issue is sometimes we’re treating things that are non-bacterial diseases as bacterial diseases,” Wunderlich said. “I was trained to first make a diagnosis and treat second. When you know what you’re treating your treatment is always going to be more effective. However, veterinarians cannot be at every farm, every time, for every sick animal. So, we as veterinarians need to determine how to better train producers to accurately diagnose on a narrow spectrum when we are not available.”

Merck Animal Health has developed a tool to help producers do just that. The Whisper On Arrival (WOA) System is a noninvasive tool designed to confirm bovine respiratory disease and predict which animals do or do not need treatment. The Whisper On Arrival device is a paddle placed on the animal’s chest behind the elbow that captures respiratory sounds as digital files and wirelessly sends those files to a chute-side computer/tablet system. The operator enters the animal’s body weight and rectal temperature on the tablet. Then a “machine-learning algorithm utilizes the data to predict the risk of BRD for each animal and provides the operator with a BRD antimicrobial control decision: ‘Treat’ or ‘Do Not Treat.’”

“Just like humans may be subjected to a stress test to predict their risk for a future cardiac event, the Whisper On Arrival (WOA) technology leverages the stress experienced during the procurement period to predict the risk of BRD,” said Dr. Jason Nickell, DVM, Director of Insights and Outcomes for Merck Animal Health. “By capturing heart, lung, and body weight data, the technology provides an individualized risk of developing BRD.  These data points are ultimately used to make metaphylaxis decisions while the animal is in the chute. The product is designed to build upon the very effective management practice of metaphylaxis.  This technology provides a more targeted approach by administering the drug to the individuals at elevated risk while leaving the remaining animals without BRD control therapy.  Clinical trial and customer-use data indicates that metaphylactic antibiotics may be reduced by about 45 percent on average while performing no different than the traditional metaphylaxis practices (i.e. 100 percent application).  Conversely, the technology has shown value in ‘low’ risk populations where metaphylaxis may not be traditionally used.  In those cases, about 20 percent of animals have shown to benefit from metaphylaxis therapy. The product is designed for those engaged in stocker, backgrounding, and/or feedlot product systems.  The technology is designed to be simple for the user.  However, initial training and ongoing customer support is provided.”

Accurate diagnosis tools are being developed around the world. One European company, Agricam, has several tools for dairy operations. Currently, Agricam offers a thermal camera system for identifying mastitis in dairy operations, the Bacticam. Bacticam will scan photos of a milk sample and deliver culture results within 24 hours. The Bacticam systems result in two to four times faster identification resulting in faster, more efficient treatment of mastitis reducing the need for antimicrobial intervention.

Kristin Hales, Thornton Distinguished Chair in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences at Texas Tech University, is conducting a research project to implement the use of infrared technology to scan the eye of feedyard cattle at arrival. The project seeks to develop a method to individually identify animals needing antimicrobial treatment based on the surface temperature of the animal’s eye using infrared thermography, thus reducing unnecessary use of antimicrobials.

“Research that provides chute-side animal management technologies that decrease the use of antimicrobials in cattle production are critical,” Hales said. “Infrared thermography measures the surface temperature by detecting heat that is produced.  Measuring the surface temperature of the eye is of particular interest because the cornea temperature is generally similar to core body temperature.  Measuring the infrared temperature of the eye is repeatable and the temperature is not affected by the presence of hair around the eye.  If cattle can be individually identified and targeted for antimicrobial treatment (targeted metaphylaxis) based on a reliable physiological marker as an indicator of illness, such as infrared thermography, this will prevent otherwise healthy cattle from being metaphylactically treated and decreased overall antimicrobial use.” 

Hales’ project is titled, “Development of a science-based management strategy to reduce the use of antimicrobials in high-risk beef cattle.” Dr. Wunderlich said with the development of tools for more accurate chute-side diagnosis, unnecessary antimicrobial use should continue to decline.

 “Vaccination records and electronic ID merging technologies will also positively impact the antimicrobial resistance issue,” Dr. Wunderlich said. “If we have all the vaccination and management records available to us when animals arrive at their next stage of production, that is going to help us screen those animals.  The veterinary industry is looking at all sorts of other parameters – like how many miles have they been hauled, temperature and humidity indices, different blood proteins, different breed characteristics, etc. Our goal is to be able to screen cattle better to avoid unnecessary use of antimicrobials. We’re working to be able to differentiate between bacterial and viral disease chute-side. We don’t clinically have that ability yet, but we’re working towards reducing the turnaround time of impactful diagnostics.”   

Dr. Wunderlich said another advance towards less antimicrobial use in the future may be genetic interpretation and selection.

“Today people are able to look at the genetics of their pet and find out what breeds their adopted dog may contain,” Dr. Wunderlich said. “In cattle we can select for economically desirable traits with a 50K test off a small piece of ear tissue or drops of blood. That technology is already here. We just need to learn how to interpret all those things in light of how we’re going to treat, manage, and breed those animals in the future. Part of that may be genetic selection for hardiness, longevity, and specific disease resistance.”

More producer education, intentional breeding decisions, and good communication between producers and veterinarians will help limit potentially unnecessary antimicrobial use. The SimpleVET Solution program by SimpleAG Solutions is designed to help streamline FDA regulatory compliance through animal health recordkeeping. SimpleVET Solutions has two tools to ensure regulatory compliance in production agriculture. One allows veterinarians to write prescriptions for an operation on their own. The other allows producers to pre-fill forms with symptoms and request prescriptions from their veterinarians. The program gives producers the ability to track and record all drug use and veterinary communication in one place ensuring regulation compliance and transparency.

Beyond reducing unnecessary antimicrobial use and facilitating better recordkeeping, some companies are working to produce antimicrobial alternatives. One such company, Nextbiotics is developing a biotechnology platform utilizing proprietary algorithms and synthetic biology to enhance bacteriophages. A bacteriophage is a virus that infects pathogenic bacteria. Nextbiotics wants to better bacteriophages’ ability to target and destroy specific bacteria as an alternative to antimicrobials.

AgThera, Inc. is a division of Nextbiotics devoted to developing solutions for animal protein production. They’re using genetic engineering, machine learning and biomanufacturing to develop new antimicrobial and antiviral live therapeutics. These newly developed antimicrobials will target previously antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Currently, they are focusing on products for chicken and pork production with plans to expand to beef production in the future.

Other organizations are working to develop antimicrobial probiotics and better nutritional supplementation programs to reduce antimicrobial resistance. Russell Carrell, PhD, Beef Nutritionist with Cargill, said nutrition plays a big role in mitigating the need for antimicrobial use.

“For an animal’s immune system to fully function, we need them to be in a state of proper nutrition,” Carrell said. “By providing an adequate diet with enough protein, fiber, energy, clean water, micro and macro minerals, we are going to reduce reliance on antimicrobials. In many instances, we can replace antimicrobials with an adequate diet. When we’re looking at feet and leg issues, often we can combat those issues with an increase in iodine and zinc in our mineral program. We can mitigate the need for antimicrobial use in weaning calves by getting them to eat feed and drink water quickly. We can encourage feed consumption in calves by using pelleted feeds as they’re more palatable. If a calf is coming from a pasture where the only water supply is from a pond or stream, they may not be trained to drink from a water trough. We can train them to drink from a water trough by allowing the trough to overflow somewhat and pool water on the ground. Ensuring our cattle are getting the nutrients they need will mitigate the use of antimicrobials. However, there are instances where antimicrobials are very necessary, but those instances should be determined through a relationship with our veterinarian.”

Dr. Wunderlich said the fight against antimicrobial resistance encompasses the entirety of producers’ efforts to steward their animals.

“It’s about doing a better job of animal husbandry,” Dr. Wunderlich said. “That includes everything we do from vaccinations, to record keeping, to low-stress handling practices, to the technologies we implement to better diagnose illnesses. We are trying to preserve those antimicrobials so that when we need them, they work. If we’re not good stewards of these compounds, then they may not continue to work for us. If we do a better job of animal husbandry, from conception to when our animals leave the operation, we are reducing antimicrobial usage and therefore are better stewards of the animals we were called to care for.”