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 fluoroqulnolonones, 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 end Prevention (CDC) in
Atlanta, Georgia. While the infection rate in the U.S. has
dropped over the last decade, the bacteria have grown more
drag-resistant. 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 fluoroquinolonunes by U.S. poultry farmers
over the past decade is one of them. Fluoroquinolones 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 drag-resistant
bacteria. Frederick Angulo, an epidemiologist with the CDC,
monitors the drug 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. What does Angulo say about the bacteria’s antibiotic resistance