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Reuters Medical News
Dr. E. E. Stobberingh and colleagues from the University Hospital Maastricht in
the Netherlands analyzed the prevalence of resistance in faecal E. coli in 47
turkeys and 50 broilers commonly given antibiotics and in 25 laying hens that were
infrequently treated with antibiotics.
To examine the "possible dissemination of resistant E. coli or resistance genes
from these poultry populations to humans," the researchers examined faecal
samples from individuals who had contact with these animals. This included 47
turkey farmers, 51 broiler farmers, 25 laying-hen farmers, 47 turkey slaughterers
and 46 broiler slaughterers.
The team also determined the MICS of antibiotics commonly used in poultry
medicine and used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to genotype
ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates from all eight populations and from turkey meat.
Turkeys and broilers had a significantly higher prevalence of resistant E. coli than
the laying-hen population. Turkey and broiler farmers and turkey and broiler
slaughterers had a higher resistance to nearly all antibiotics than laying-hen
farmers.
The investigators found that while multiresistant isolates were common in turkey
and broiler farmers, they were absent in laying-hen farmers. In addition, turkeys,
turkey farmers, turkey slaughterers, broilers, broiler farmers, and broiler
slaughterers all had the same resistance patterns.
"The PFGE patterns of the isolates from the eight populations were quite
heterogeneous, but E. coli with an identical PFGE pattern were isolated at two
farms from a turkey and the farmer, and also from a broiler and a broiler farmer
from different farms," Dr. Stobberingh and colleagues explain. "Moreover, three
E. coli isolates from turkey meat were identical to faecal isolates from turkeys."
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2001
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