SuperbugsEuropean health worries: High levels of drug resistance in zoonotic bacteria
A surveillance report from European health and food safety agencies indicates that antibiotic resistance in zoonotic bacteria from humans, food, and animals on the continent remains at high levels, with notable levels of multidrug resistance in two common causes of foodborne illness in humans. Zoonotic bacteria are organisms that are transmissible between animals and humans, either through direct exposure or through consumption of contaminated meat.
A surveillance report from European health and food safety agencies indicates that antibiotic resistance in zoonotic bacteria from humans, food, and animals on the continent remains at high levels, with notable levels of multidrug resistance in two common causes of foodborne illness in humans.
The report is based on 2016 data provided by 28 EU member states and jointly analyzed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It addresses resistance in bacterial isolates of zoonotic Salmonella and Campylobacter from humans, food, and poultry, along with resistance levels and mechanisms in indicator Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in animals and food.
Zoonotic bacteria are organisms that are transmissible between animals and humans, either through direct exposure or through consumption of contaminated meat. The ECDC and EFSA have been collecting and analyzing data submitted by EU countries on these bacteria to monitor for levels of antibiotic resistance since 2013.
Worrisome levels of multidrug resistance
CIDRAP reports that among the key findings of the report is that more than 1 in 4 (26.5 percent) of Salmonella isolates from human cases of Salmonellosis were multidrug-resistant, and high proportions of isolates were resistant to sulfonamides (34.6 percent), ampicillin (29.5 percent), and tetracyclines (29.2 percent). Among the most worrisome Salmonella serovars identified was S Kentucky; more than three-quarters of S Kentucky isolates (76.3 percent) were multidrug-resistant, and nearly half were resistant to at least five antibiotic classes. More than 85 percent of S Kentucky isolates were highly resistant to ciprofloxacin, and 19.8 percent were found to harbor extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) enzymes.
About 40 percent of isolates from two other common Salmonella serovars, S Infantis and S Typhimurium, were multidrug-resistant, with one S Typhimurium isolate reported to be resistant to 8 of 9 tested antibiotics.
