- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued an order prohibiting the manufacture, sale and distribution of colistin and its formulations for food-producing animals, poultry, aqua farming and animal feed supplements.
- Activists across the country has welcomed this move as a massive victory for the movement against antimicrobial resistance.
- According to experts,the recent step would ensure that colistin does not enter the food people eat and thereby people don’t develop resistance to the antibiotic.
- Colistin is a polypeptide antibiotic from the group of polymyxins.This antimicrobial is predominantly used in veterinary medicine in the treatment of intestinal diseases as well as other infections.
- This antibiotic is used in animals as it helps them remain free of disease or gain weight faster.
- However,Colistin is also used as a last line therapy in Humans to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria when essentially no other options are available.
