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Deadly superbug outbreak in humans linked to antibiotic spike in cows
A deadly outbreak of multi-drug resistant Salmonella that sickened 225 people across the US beginning in 2018 may have been spurred by a sharp rise in the use of certain antibiotics in cows a year earlier, infectious disease investigators reported this week.
From June 2018 to March of 2019, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Newport. The strain was resistant to several antibiotics, most notably azithromycin—a recommended treatment for Salmonella enterica infections. Before the outbreak, azithromycin-resistance in this germ was exceedingly rare. In fact, it was only first seen in the US in 2016.
Yet in the 2018-2019 outbreak, it reached at least 225 people in 32 states. Of those sickened, at least 60 were hospitalized and two died. (Researchers didn't have complete health data on everyone sickened in the outbreak.)
Infectious disease researchers investigating the cases traced the infections back to beef from the US and soft cheeses from Mexico (mostly queso fresco, which is typically made from unpasteurized milk). Genetic testing suggests that cows in both countries are carrying the germ.
In a report published August 23 by the CDC, the investigators note that just a year earlier, the Food and Drug Administration recorded a spike in the use of antibiotics called macrolides by cattle farmers. From 2016 to 2017, cattle farmers increased their use of macrolide antibiotics by 41%. Macrolides are a class of antibiotics that includes azithromycin. Because antibiotics within a class work to kill bacteria in similar ways, bacterial resistance to one drug in a class could lead to resistance to other drugs in the same class.
The investigators suggest that the surge in macrolide use could have encouraged the rise and spread of the azithromycin-resistant Newport strain.
"Because use of antibiotics in livestock can cause selection of resistant strains, the reported 41% rise in macrolide use in US cattle from 2016 to 2017 might have accelerated carriage of the outbreak strain among US cattle," they wrote.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @04:10AM (1 child)
That is the reason why some brands of beef don't let you market your meet using the brand if you raise the cows with too high a density or without following the approved diet. Many farmers, including some of my neighbors, will tell you it doesn't make a difference, while also following said guidelines because the second they don't they know that the auditors will magically appear because they somehow pulled the knowledge out of the Aether.
FWIW, USDA grades are not "quality" measures in the way most people think. Instead, the more practical aspect is how they look and cook. They are based on the age of the cow, the tissue types, the marbling of the meat, uniformity of cut, "juice" content, and other processing information. In fact, most meat people eat and consume is Standard or Commercial grade because it doesn't need to look pretty or the other factors that can be adjusted for in processing.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday August 25 2019, @04:17AM
Yeah, I found that out afterwards, "Prime" sounded like it'd be certified high-quality meat but then friends explained it doesn't work that way, so some of the problem would have been my misunderstanding of what the term "USDA Prime" was promising.