CDC ReportHow are you going to survive the coming food borne Illness?
The overuse of antibiotics in the human food chain.
CDC Report
High
Prevalence of Flouroquinolone-Resistant Campylobacter
jejuni in the Foodnet Sites: A Hazard
in the Food Supply
Rossiter S, Joyce K, Ray M, Benson J, Mackinson C, Gregg C, Sullivan M, Vought
K, Leano F, Besser J, Marano N, Angulo F, the EIP FoodNet Working Group
Background: Campylobacter, the most common bacterial cause of foodbome illness, infects an estimated 2.4 million people annually in the United States. Fluoroquinolones ( e.g., ciprofloxacin) are commonly used in adults to reduce the severity and duration of the symptoms. Fluoroquinolones have also been used since late 1995 in chickens. Since chickens are the most common source of Campylobacter jejun infections, we tested Campylobacter isolated from ill persons and chickens purchased from grocery stores for fluoroquinolone resistance.
Methods: From 1997 to 1999, public health laboratories in the Emerging Infections Program's Foodbome Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) sites in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon forwarded one Campylobacter isolate per week to CDC. From January to June 1999 Georgia, Maryland, and Minnesota also forwarded Campylobacter isolated from chickens purchased from grocery stores. Isolates were presumptively identified as C. jejuni or C. coli based on characteristic motility observed using dark-field microscopy, oxidase positivity, and hippurate hydrolysis. Hippurate negative isolates were further characterized using species-specific polymerase chain reaction. E-test was used for ciprofloxacin susceptibility testing.
Results: The prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistance among Campylobacter jejun isolates from humans increased from 13% (27/205) in 1997 to 20.5% (38/185) in 1999. Among humans, ciprofloxacin resistance was found in all sites-in 1999, ranging from 4.5% (1/22) in Oregon to 45.2% (14/31) in Connecticut. Campylobacter jejun was isolated from 33.9% (61/180) of chickens; 24.5% (15/61) of these isolates were ciprofloxacin resistant. Ciprofloxacin resistance among.Campylobacter isolated from chickens was common in all sites, ranging from 15.8% (3/19) in Georgia to 40% (8/20) in Maryland.
Conclusion: A high prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance was detected among Campylobacter jejuni isolates from ill persons and chickens from grocery stores. Chickens represent a significant reservoir for fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter jejun to which humans are routinely exposed. Furthermore, an increase in the prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistance among human Campylobacter isolates followed the approval of fluoroquinolone use in chickens. The continued use of fluoroquinolones in chickens threatens the efficacy of fluoroquinolones for treatment of Campylopacter infections in humans. Mitigating action is necessary to preserve the efficacy of fluoroquinolones for the treatmerit of Campylobacter and other foodborne infections in humans.