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| Poultry workers are much more likely to carry drug-resistant bacteria than people outside the poultry industry |
Researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that industrial poultry workers in the US were 32 times more likely to carry Escherichia coli resistant to the commonly used antibiotic gentamicin than other members of the community. Drug-resistant bacteria are a known problem in the poultry industry, but this study is the first in the US to show high levels of exposure among those working in the industry.
Lance B Price, lead author of the study, said: "The use of antimicrobials in industrial food production has been going on for over 50 years in the United States. Some estimates indicate that well over half of the antimicrobial drugs produced in the United States are used in food animal production. In the US alone, over 9 billion food animals are produced annually."
The researchers analyzed poultry workers and community residents in the eastern shore regions of Maryland and Virginia, which are among the top broiler chicken producing areas in the US. Samples taken from the participants were tested for bacteria resistant to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriazone, tetracycline and gentamicin.
"One of the major implications of this study is to underscore the importance of the non-hospital environment in the origin of drug-resistant infections," said Ellen K Silbergeld, senior author of the study.
The research is published in the December edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.
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