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The worldwide increase in the use of antibiotics as an integral part of the poultry and livestock production industry to treat and prevent infectious bacterial diseases and as growth promoters at subtherapeutic levels in feed has led to the problem of the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance during recent years. These uses promote the selection of antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations. The resistant bacteria from agricultural environments may be transmitted to humans, in whom they cause disease that cannot be treated by conventional antibiotics. (Imprint: Nova)