//06 Jul 2011
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, each year, about 9.4 million people get sick from contaminated food. A new test may detect Salmonella infection in an early stage, allowing prompt action.
The USDA reports the leading cause of bacterial-related food illness in the U.S. is salmonella. About one million Americans get sick from salmonella annually, more than 19,000 are hospitalized and more than 370 people die. The annual cost of medical treatment for salmonella-related food illness is $365 million.
The CDC estimates that eggs and poultry account for nearly half (47 percent) of all foods associated with salmonella outbreaks. Salmonella bacteria in the housing environment can contaminate the outer shell of the eggs or get inside through pores in the egg’s shell. More importantly, chickens can carry the bacteria in their digestive tract.
To reduce the risk for widespread infections, the Food and Drug Administration now requires egg producers with 50,000 or more birds to test the eggs and animal environment for salmonella contamination. These regulations took effect on July 10, 2010. Producers of smaller flocks will be required to adhere to the guidelines by July 9, 2012.
Shelley Rankin, microbiologist with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in Kennett Square, PA says the traditional test for salmonella bacteria in poultry houses and eggs is very effective, but takes about 10 days to get results. By that time, if the tests have come back positive for salmonella, the eggs have typically reached consumers. Producers must then issue a recall.
A new test, called the TaqMan detection kit, can be used to test both the hen house environment and egg. More importantly, the results are available within 48 hours. The hope is, with the faster turn around time, contaminated eggs can be kept out of the food supply, greatly reducing the risk for illness among consumers.
Rankin explains the environmental part of the test involves dragging a prepared gauze pad through the animal manure (because the bacteria will be excreted in the bird feces). If the manure tests positive for the bacteria, the eggs are also tested. That requires taking a sampling of at least 20 disinfected eggs, cracking the shells, mixing the contents to break the yolks and testing the solution. If salmonella is found in the eggs, they are sent to a pasteurization plant. That process heats the eggs and kills the bacteria, making the eggs safe to eat.
Source: WSOCTV.com
Showing posts with label Salmonella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salmonella. Show all posts
06 July 2011
28 June 2011
New salmonella superbug passing from pigs to humans
//28 Jun 2011
The Soil Association is calling on the UK Government to take immediate action to limit the spread of a deadly new type of salmonella which is passing from pigs to humans. Known as ‘monophasic salmonella typhimurium’.
The new superbug has enhanced ability to cause infections and 'a particularly high attack rate in children and old people', leading to 'an unusually high rate of hospitalisation'. It is also highly resistant to antibiotics, limiting treatment options.
Several different strains have already emerged and caused numerous infections in humans and at least one death. Professor John Trelfall from the Health Protection Agency has acknowledged that it appears ‘to be associated with pigs and pig products’. German scientists have found clear evidence it is being transmitted from pigs to humans ‘along the food chain’, and called for interventions at a farm level to prevent human infection.
The Soil Association wants a panel of experts to undertake an urgent review of the mounting evidence that specific action is needed to address the serious threat posed by the new type of salmonella, and evidence that all Salmonella can spread directly from pigs to people, as well as via food. It also wants Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, to intervene and stop any new intensive pig farms being built near residential areas at least until the panel has made recommendations.
Planners in Derbyshire will shortly decide whether or not to approve one of the largest ever pig farms in the UK for the company Midland Pig Producers on the outskirts of the village of Foston, which would house 25,000 pigs. The Soil Association is staging an open meeting with Pig Business today for local residents concerned about the proposed development.
Exact statistics on the number of cases in the UK are not available, but the Government’s main advisory committee on antibiotic resistance in animals has warned that it ‘appeared currently to be the most predominant type of salmonella in Europe’. The European Food Safety Authority has described its incidence as ‘epidemic’. The available evidence strongly suggests that it is increasing in pigs and humans in the UK. There have also been cases in British cattle.
Resistant to antibiotics
Most monophasic salmonella from pigs are multiresistant to at least four families of antibiotics, but the long-feared development of resistance to modern cephalosporin antibiotics in salmonella has already been found as well on at least one British pig farm. The European Food Safety Authority has warned that resistance to these antibiotics could lead to treatment failures. They also warned that even the routine use of antibiotics such as tetracyclines, the most widely used antibiotics in pig feed, not only promotes resistance but also increases the spread and persistence in pigs of these resistant strains.
Flies and cockroaches are known to carry salmonella and other pathogens found on pigs, and American scientists have said that because these insects can move freely between animal waste on farms and nearby houses there is ‘increasing concern in the medical and public-health community about insect pests directly associated with the spread of bacterial pathogens and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms with animal production systems to residential settings’. This is particularly significant because Dr Rob Davies, from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, believes that monophasic Salmonella typhimurium may have ‘the ability to be shed in large numbers in faeces compared with other strains’. Flies were a particular problem on one of Midland Pig Producers' other pig farms when journalists visited it last year.
Evolved strains
According to Dr Davies, monophasic salmonella typhimurium is one of several salmonella strains to have evolved in pigs. Furthermore, another very recently published government study found that 28% of British pigs tested positive for salmonella. 92% of these showed resistance to antibiotics with 67% being multiresistant. A British government survey in 2002 found that one in every twelve sausages (8.6%) were contaminated with salmonella.
Research has shown that pigs raised indoors excrete higher levels of salmonella in their manure than do outdoor-raised pigs, both organic and non-organic. Many scientific studies also show that salmonella in pigs increases with herd size.
Source and for more information: Soil Association
The Soil Association is calling on the UK Government to take immediate action to limit the spread of a deadly new type of salmonella which is passing from pigs to humans. Known as ‘monophasic salmonella typhimurium’.
The new superbug has enhanced ability to cause infections and 'a particularly high attack rate in children and old people', leading to 'an unusually high rate of hospitalisation'. It is also highly resistant to antibiotics, limiting treatment options.
Several different strains have already emerged and caused numerous infections in humans and at least one death. Professor John Trelfall from the Health Protection Agency has acknowledged that it appears ‘to be associated with pigs and pig products’. German scientists have found clear evidence it is being transmitted from pigs to humans ‘along the food chain’, and called for interventions at a farm level to prevent human infection.
The Soil Association wants a panel of experts to undertake an urgent review of the mounting evidence that specific action is needed to address the serious threat posed by the new type of salmonella, and evidence that all Salmonella can spread directly from pigs to people, as well as via food. It also wants Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, to intervene and stop any new intensive pig farms being built near residential areas at least until the panel has made recommendations.
Planners in Derbyshire will shortly decide whether or not to approve one of the largest ever pig farms in the UK for the company Midland Pig Producers on the outskirts of the village of Foston, which would house 25,000 pigs. The Soil Association is staging an open meeting with Pig Business today for local residents concerned about the proposed development.
Exact statistics on the number of cases in the UK are not available, but the Government’s main advisory committee on antibiotic resistance in animals has warned that it ‘appeared currently to be the most predominant type of salmonella in Europe’. The European Food Safety Authority has described its incidence as ‘epidemic’. The available evidence strongly suggests that it is increasing in pigs and humans in the UK. There have also been cases in British cattle.
Resistant to antibiotics
Most monophasic salmonella from pigs are multiresistant to at least four families of antibiotics, but the long-feared development of resistance to modern cephalosporin antibiotics in salmonella has already been found as well on at least one British pig farm. The European Food Safety Authority has warned that resistance to these antibiotics could lead to treatment failures. They also warned that even the routine use of antibiotics such as tetracyclines, the most widely used antibiotics in pig feed, not only promotes resistance but also increases the spread and persistence in pigs of these resistant strains.
Flies and cockroaches are known to carry salmonella and other pathogens found on pigs, and American scientists have said that because these insects can move freely between animal waste on farms and nearby houses there is ‘increasing concern in the medical and public-health community about insect pests directly associated with the spread of bacterial pathogens and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms with animal production systems to residential settings’. This is particularly significant because Dr Rob Davies, from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, believes that monophasic Salmonella typhimurium may have ‘the ability to be shed in large numbers in faeces compared with other strains’. Flies were a particular problem on one of Midland Pig Producers' other pig farms when journalists visited it last year.
Evolved strains
According to Dr Davies, monophasic salmonella typhimurium is one of several salmonella strains to have evolved in pigs. Furthermore, another very recently published government study found that 28% of British pigs tested positive for salmonella. 92% of these showed resistance to antibiotics with 67% being multiresistant. A British government survey in 2002 found that one in every twelve sausages (8.6%) were contaminated with salmonella.
Research has shown that pigs raised indoors excrete higher levels of salmonella in their manure than do outdoor-raised pigs, both organic and non-organic. Many scientific studies also show that salmonella in pigs increases with herd size.
Source and for more information: Soil Association
01 May 2011
Salmonella concerns in alternative housing systems for laying hens
//29 Apr 2011
The results of a new study from researchers in Belgium suggest that any shift from conventional to alternative housing systems for laying hens should be accompanied by a keen concern for optimising and maintaining Salmonella surveillance programs, due to an increased risk of bird-to-bird transmission and internal egg contamination in some non-traditional housing systems.
The study, “Effect of Housing on Transmission of Salmonella,” will appear in the July issue of Poultry Science, said the Poultry Science Association (PSA), which publishes the journal.
According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Jantina De Vylder, Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Ghent University, the researchers sought to quantify the effect of housing systems on the spread of Salmonella infection within a group of layers and on internal egg contamination.
Salmonella Enteritidis
They found that aviary and floor housing systems pose a greater risk of bird-to-bird transmission of Salmonella Enteritidis than traditional battery cages and furnished cages. The study also found a higher number of eggs that were internally contaminated by Salmonella in aviary systems, as compared both to cage systems and the floor system.
“We found a slightly higher bird-to-bird transmission rate in aviary systems, and an even more pronounced rate for floor systems in comparison with cage systems. Given that we controlled for a number of other variables that might impact transmission rates, we believe that differences inherent to the housing systems – such as hygienic status, air quality, and more intensive contact between birds in large group-housing – are likely responsible,” said De Vylder.
Contaminated eggs
The reason for the higher incidence of Salmonella-contaminated eggs in aviary housing systems, the second major finding of the study, was less clear.
“We were unable to establish any relation between the significantly larger number of internally contaminated eggs in the aviary system and either the internal colonisation or the faecal shedding status of hens. It’s possible that stress could play a role in the difference, but that’s still speculation at this point,” added De Vylder.
The article cites an earlier study which found that stress induces some changes in the hen’s oviduct. This, the authors of the Belgian study say, “might create an environment that is more susceptible for Salmonella survival and also might affect the survival of Salmonella in egg albumen.”
Because of their findings, De Vylder and her co-authors urge that, following a move of laying hens from conventional to alternative housing systems, it is vital for Salmonella control plans to be maintained and for additional care to be taken to minimise within-flock transmission of Salmonella.
Previous Studies
The upcoming ban in the European Union on battery cages, which takes effect next January, and broad concerns about the hygienic status of alternative housing systems, prompted a number of earlier studies that tried to determine whether infectious agents like Salmonella Enteritidis spread more readily in non-conventional systems than in battery cages. While most of these epidemiological studies showed a higher prevalence of the bacterium in layer flocks housed in conventional systems, there was some concern, said De Vylder, that their findings may have been influenced by any number of factors, such as farm and flock size, age of the housing system, etc.
“A more recent study controlling for such environmental factors also concluded that alternative housing systems posed no additional risk for Salmonella colonisation of the gut and internal organs than conventional battery cages. However, in this study, all of the birds inoculated with the pathogen were given very high doses – which most likely would not reflect the actual situation in the field. To address this, our group undertook what we believed was a more realistic approach to studying transmission,” said De Vylder.
Source: The Poultry Science Association (PSA)
The results of a new study from researchers in Belgium suggest that any shift from conventional to alternative housing systems for laying hens should be accompanied by a keen concern for optimising and maintaining Salmonella surveillance programs, due to an increased risk of bird-to-bird transmission and internal egg contamination in some non-traditional housing systems.
The study, “Effect of Housing on Transmission of Salmonella,” will appear in the July issue of Poultry Science, said the Poultry Science Association (PSA), which publishes the journal.
According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Jantina De Vylder, Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Ghent University, the researchers sought to quantify the effect of housing systems on the spread of Salmonella infection within a group of layers and on internal egg contamination.
Salmonella Enteritidis
They found that aviary and floor housing systems pose a greater risk of bird-to-bird transmission of Salmonella Enteritidis than traditional battery cages and furnished cages. The study also found a higher number of eggs that were internally contaminated by Salmonella in aviary systems, as compared both to cage systems and the floor system.
“We found a slightly higher bird-to-bird transmission rate in aviary systems, and an even more pronounced rate for floor systems in comparison with cage systems. Given that we controlled for a number of other variables that might impact transmission rates, we believe that differences inherent to the housing systems – such as hygienic status, air quality, and more intensive contact between birds in large group-housing – are likely responsible,” said De Vylder.
Contaminated eggs
The reason for the higher incidence of Salmonella-contaminated eggs in aviary housing systems, the second major finding of the study, was less clear.
“We were unable to establish any relation between the significantly larger number of internally contaminated eggs in the aviary system and either the internal colonisation or the faecal shedding status of hens. It’s possible that stress could play a role in the difference, but that’s still speculation at this point,” added De Vylder.
The article cites an earlier study which found that stress induces some changes in the hen’s oviduct. This, the authors of the Belgian study say, “might create an environment that is more susceptible for Salmonella survival and also might affect the survival of Salmonella in egg albumen.”
Because of their findings, De Vylder and her co-authors urge that, following a move of laying hens from conventional to alternative housing systems, it is vital for Salmonella control plans to be maintained and for additional care to be taken to minimise within-flock transmission of Salmonella.
Previous Studies
The upcoming ban in the European Union on battery cages, which takes effect next January, and broad concerns about the hygienic status of alternative housing systems, prompted a number of earlier studies that tried to determine whether infectious agents like Salmonella Enteritidis spread more readily in non-conventional systems than in battery cages. While most of these epidemiological studies showed a higher prevalence of the bacterium in layer flocks housed in conventional systems, there was some concern, said De Vylder, that their findings may have been influenced by any number of factors, such as farm and flock size, age of the housing system, etc.
“A more recent study controlling for such environmental factors also concluded that alternative housing systems posed no additional risk for Salmonella colonisation of the gut and internal organs than conventional battery cages. However, in this study, all of the birds inoculated with the pathogen were given very high doses – which most likely would not reflect the actual situation in the field. To address this, our group undertook what we believed was a more realistic approach to studying transmission,” said De Vylder.
Source: The Poultry Science Association (PSA)
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