{"id":2084,"date":"2015-10-28T00:58:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T04:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2016-03-23T04:39:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T08:39:10","slug":"making-the-news-something-hilarious-something-ominous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/10\/28\/2084\/making-the-news-something-hilarious-something-ominous\/","title":{"rendered":"Making The News: \u00a0Something Hilarious, Something Ominous…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hilarious<\/a><\/p>\n

Hilarious: \u00a0Chicks and Kids<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Antibiotic use in animals is defended as infection prophylaxis, but the honest reason why chickens are exposed for most days of their short life to antibiotics of various kinds is for growth promotion.\u00a0 Antibiotic use keeps those chicks healthy which in turn makes them eat more and put on some extra 10% weight.\u00a0 This amounts to a huge 10% profit in an industry where profit margins are extremely small. \u00a0Your mother\u2019s chicken cost a lot more than what you pay nowadays at your favorite discounter.\u00a0 Indeed, chicken meat has become the cheapest source of protein in the world, thanks to large broiler units and the antibiotics we feed indiscriminately.<\/p>\n

Now a new study is out showing that antibiotics are also increasing weight gain in \u2026 children[1]<\/a>.\u00a0 In a review of electronic health records from 163,820 children, recent antibiotic use in all ages and also cumulative intake was associated with a noticeable increase in BMI (by as much as 3.8%) and weight (up to 1.15 kg).\u00a0 Beware of macrolides; they were associated with an average weight gain of 1.5 kg at age 15.<\/p>\n

Take-home message: What\u2019s good for chicks may be good for kids too.\u00a0 No, that\u2019s not right \u2013 the lesson: What\u2019s bad for kids, is good for chicks.\u00a0 I am getting confused!\u00a0 Ah, now I get it: Antibiotic prophylaxis is good for chicks but antibiotic treatment is bad for kids.\u00a0 Wow, that was difficult!<\/p>\n

What the study did not address, is the antibiotic exposure kids get through chicken meat consumption. \u00a0 I’d venture a guess: \u00a0there is a correlation between how\u00a0many kid’s meal chicken fingers you ate last year and cumulatively\u00a0and BMI. Now we know it’s not just the calories, it’s also the amount of antibiotics consumed that drives our obesity epidemic. \u00a0Bottom line: Get rid of antibiotics in veterinary ‘prophylaxis’ and use\u00a0antibiotics judiciously in kids with otitis, rhinitis, bronchitis.<\/p>\n

Ominous: Chik and CDC<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The CDC released some data on Chikungunya infections in the Americas: The Dominican Republic has thus far seen most of the 1.7 million cases reported thus far.\u00a0 Travel-related cases have occurred in the US in increasing numbers.\u00a0 With the Aedes mosquito vector already established in the US, we are warned that more indigenous cases may soon occur.\u00a0 Cases have already appeared in Florida.<\/p>\n

Chikungunya is a tough disease.\u00a0 Most people infected are symptomatic, with fever and joint pain predominating.\u00a0 This polyarthralgia\/arthritis can be severe and long-lasting, to the point of becoming incapacitating.\u00a0 It is known that the virus interferes with Toll and JAK\/STAT signaling pathways. \"Cephalotaxine\"<\/a>Treatment is still purely symptomatic but antivirals, antibodies and immune modulators are in development.\u00a0 Reviews of novel antivirals are found in several recent articles.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Chloroquine does not work and neither does ribavirin, the drug for all RNA viruses.\u00a0 Interferon, coumarin, bindarit, arbitol, mycophenylate, and harringtonine, a cephalotaxine, all showed some in-vitro activity[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Treatment with immune serum works but is impractical.<\/p>\n

Chikungunya is coming closer to a home near you. \u00a0A single aminoacid substitution in a viral envelope protein was recognized in 2007 which is of great significance as it confers a better adaptation to the A. albopictus mosquito vector which is more prevalent than A. aegyptii in the Southern US [4]<\/span>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

References:
\n<\/strong>[1]<\/a> Schwarz, B. Antibiotic use and childhood body mass index trajectory.\u00a0 International Journal of Obesity accepted article preview 21 October 2015; doi: 10.1038\/ijo.2015.218.
\n[2]<\/a> Parashar, D. Review Article. Antiviral Perspectives for Chikungunya Virus.\u00a0 BioMed Research International\u00a0Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 631642, http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1155\/2014\/631642
\n[3]<\/a> Kaur, P. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013 Jan;57(1):155
\n[4]<\/span> Kumar, N.\u00a0J Gen Virol. 2008<\/span>;89(Pt 8):1945<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hilarious: \u00a0Chicks and Kids Antibiotic use in animals is defended as infection prophylaxis, but the honest reason why chickens are exposed for most days of their short life to antibiotics of various kinds is for growth promotion.\u00a0 Antibiotic use keeps those chicks healthy which in turn makes them eat more Continue reading Making The News: \u00a0Something Hilarious, Something Ominous…<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[227,3],"tags":[1403,1383,1271,1382,403,1391,1390,1392,1401,1400,1396,1381,1398,1399,1389,1045,1583,1395,1384,1393,1388,1397,1402,1386,1387,1385,528,1394],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recent_literature","category-the_news","tag-aedes-aegyptii","tag-aedes-albopictus","tag-allphase-pharma-consulting","tag-alphavirus","tag-antibiotic-blog","tag-antibiotic-prophylaxis-in-veterinary-medicine","tag-antibiotic-use-in-animals","tag-antibiotics-and-bmi-in-children","tag-arbitol","tag-bindarit","tag-cephalotaxine","tag-chikungunya","tag-chloroquine","tag-coumarin","tag-epidemic-in-dominican-republic","tag-growth-promotion","tag-harald-reinhart","tag-harringtonine","tag-jakstat-signaling","tag-macrolides","tag-mosquito-vector","tag-mycophenylate","tag-polyarthitis","tag-polyarthralgia","tag-polyarthritis","tag-toll-receptor","tag-veterinary-use-of-antibiotics","tag-weight-gain-from-antibiotics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Hilarious-slider-copy.jpg?fit=640%2C180&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KWFr-xC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":846,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2014\/09\/07\/846\/growth-promotion-now-called-prophylaxis-the-logic-of-chicks\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":0},"title":"Growth Promotion Now Called Prophylaxis \u2013 The Logic of Chicks","author":"Harald","date":"September 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"California is getting rid of a time-honored justification for antibiotic use in veterinary medicine [1].\u00a0 No longer will it be acceptable to prescribe them for \u00a0\u201dgrowth promotion\u201d, but rather only for \u201cprophylaxis\u201d.\u00a0 Just like in humans, so it is argued, does prudent use of antibiotics have a place in prevention,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News"","block_context":{"text":"The News","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Broiler Battery","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Indiapoultry.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1521,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/06\/07\/1521\/cattle-and-pigs-and-chickens-oh-yeah\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":1},"title":"Cattle and Pigs and Chickens, Oh Yeah!","author":"Harald","date":"June 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) Final Rule was announced earlier this month by FDA, the accompanying press release called it a \u2018major step towards judicious antibiotic use\u2019 in veterinary medicine\u00a0[1]. There are several elements which look good, at least on paper: As prescribers of any and all antibiotics it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"images","src":"http:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/images.jpe","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5289,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2025\/09\/11\/5289\/antibiotic-use-in-veterinary-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":2},"title":"ANTIBIOTIC USE IN VETERINARY MEDICINE","author":"Harald","date":"September 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A ton is a tonne, by any other name.\u00a0 A tonne, also called a metric tonne, is the equivalent of 1,000 kg.\u00a0 There are also imperial tonnes and long tonnes which have a slightly different conversion factor:\u00a0 1 tonne of either is equivalent to 1.01604691 metric tonnes. The amount of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Did you know...?"","block_context":{"text":"Did you know...?","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/interesting_facts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Picture2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2174,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/12\/07\/2174\/food-for-thought-sprinkled-with-small-amounts-of-antibiotic-residues\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":3},"title":"Food for Thought, Sprinkled With Small Amounts of Antibiotic Residues","author":"Harald","date":"December 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"80% of antibiotics worldwide are used in veterinary medicine. With only a minor fraction metabolized to inactive compounds, there are plenty of antibiotics excreted by farm animals in unchanged active form. These antibiotic residues are found in manure, in the soil onto which\u00a0manure is sprayed, tilled in, or in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tramates versicolor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tramates-versicolor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tramates-versicolor.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tramates-versicolor.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2942,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2016\/12\/15\/2942\/antibiotic-inhalers-galore-part-1-more-combinations-permutations-rubiks-cube\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":4},"title":"Antibiotic Inhalers Galore (Part 1): \u00a0More Combinations and Permutations than a Rubik\u2019s Cube","author":"Harald","date":"December 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There is much interest in inhaled antibiotics these days.\u00a0 Prima facie, the logic for this approach is compelling: Getting the antibiotic (and a lot of it) directly to the site of infection, while avoiding systemic toxicity, sounds like optimized efficacy plus optimized safety combined.\u00a0 However, some high-profile failures were published\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "QIDP Antibiotics"","block_context":{"text":"QIDP Antibiotics","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/qidp_antibiotic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Inhalational-Abx-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Inhalational-Abx-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Inhalational-Abx-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3174,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2017\/02\/20\/3174\/google-news-week-antibiotics\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":5},"title":"Google Search for News on “Antibiotics”","author":"Harald","date":"February 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The top-line news articles that come up on a Google search when one enters the term \u201cantibiotics\u201d is truly an eclectic bunch. 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