The bacteria that cause a common food-borne illness show low
drug resistance in Australia, unlike similar strains from the United States and
Europe, a study has found. Scientists behind the finding say Australia’s de
facto ban on certain antibiotics in poultry(家禽) and other livestock. helps
explain why. In the study, researchers analyzed samples of
Campylobacter jejuni (空肠弯曲杆菌) bacteria from 585 patients in five Australian
states. Scientists found that only 2 percent of the samples were
resistant to ciprofloxacin (环丙沙星), one of the group of antibiotics known as
fluoroquinolonones. By contrast, 18 percent of Campylobacter (弧形杆菌) samples in
U.S. patients are immune to fluoroquinolonones, which have been used in the U.S.
to prevent or treat respiratory(呼吸的) disease in poultry for a decade.
The study, led by Leanne Unicomb, a graduate student at Australian
National University in Canberra, was published in the May issue of the journal
Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The findings add to the growing
body of evidence suggestive of the problems of using fluoroquinolonones in food-
producing animals," Unicomb wrote in an email. Campylobacter is
the most common food-borne disease in the U.S. and many other industrialized
countries. People can contract the pathogen(病原体) by consuming
undercooked poultry or meat, raw milk, or contaminated(被污染的) water.
Symptoms include fever, vomiting, and diarrhea(腹泻). In rare cases, the
disease can trigger paralysis or death. "In most industrial
countries Campylobacter is more commonly reported than Salmonella (沙门氏菌), a
better-known cause of food poisoning," Unicomb said. "The number
of cases of Campylobacter has been on the rise in Australia since the early
90’s." In the U.S., about 1.4 million people contracted
Campylobacter infections last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. While the
infection rate in the U.S. has dropped over the last decade, the bacteria have
grown more drug-rasistant. According to the CDC, surveys between
1986 and 1990 found no signs of resistance to the antibiotics in U.S.
Campylobacter infections. But by 1997, strains resistant to the antibiotics
accounted for 12 percent of human cases. In 2001 the figure climbed to 18
percent. Public health experts say many factors contribute to
Campylobacter’s drug resistance; the widespread use of fluoroquinolonones by
U.S. poultry farmers over the past decade is one of them.
Fluoroquinolonones were first approved for use in humans by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986. In 1995 the FDA granted poultry farmers
permission to the use the drugs in livestock. Last year the FDA banned the
antibiotic from food-producing animals, citing the concerns raised by public
health experts over drug-resistant bacteria. Frederick Angulo,
an epidemiologist with the CDC, monitors the drag resistance of food-borne
pathogens in the U.S. food supply. "The people who are most likely to get
infected with food-borne diseases include the most vulnerable people in the
population—infants and young children and also the elderly," he said. He says
that Campylobacter infections are entirely preventable, as is the bacteria’s
antibiotic resistance. "In many ways what’s occurring with Campylobacter is an
indicator for a broader issue, which is...antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the
food supply," he said. The food-borne disease may cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea and even ______.