tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post3511381239229311365..comments2024-03-23T02:47:06.479-07:00Comments on Kerry B. Collison Asia News: China Declares death toll from bird flu soars to 79 in January but what is the real figure?Kerry B. Collisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post-20443359355936045022017-02-15T13:13:47.019-08:002017-02-15T13:13:47.019-08:00Drug resistant bacteria found in China’s poultry p...Drug resistant bacteria found in China’s poultry production chain – British government report estimates antibiotic resistance would kill 10 million people yearly around the globe by 2050, more than cancer.<br />Superbugs are bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic drugs. <br />British government report estimates antibiotic resistance would kill 10 million people yearly around the globe by 2050, more than cancer.<br />But the new study suggests a grimmer picture.<br />Action needed on misuse of antibiotics in livestock farming<br />More than 87 per cent of the chicken meat sold in supermarkets in China’s Shandong province was contaminated by a superbug gene called mcr-1, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology on Monday.<br />Bacteria carrying the mcr-1 gene was resistant to colistin, one of the “last-resort” antibiotics used only after the failure of other drugs.<br />The researchers traced the spread of the bacteria from slaughterhouse to hatcheries. The highest detection rate was recorded in chicken farms, where 97 per cent of samples were contaminated.<br />Superbug infections found in Chinese hospitals, medical journal study finds<br />The researchers detected the gene of another superbug strain, ndm-1, which originates in India and was rarely reported in poultry in China before.<br />The findings suggested that “the level of environmental contamination is underestimated”, the authors wrote in the paper.<br />US woman dies of infection resistant to all 26 available antibiotics<br />But the researchers said the government should still take action. They noted that Beijing would ban the use of colistin in the farming sector beginning in April, but said this was far from enough.<br />Although new drugs can be developed, the pace of this development cannot catch up with the speed of bacteria evolution.<br />Call for regulation after antibiotic resistant superbug found in 60 per cent of tested Hong Kong chickens<br />One new antibiotic was discovered last year – the first in three decades.<br />The researchers made other important discoveries, such as finding that flies in chicken farms carry a large amount of drug-resistant genes. It was the first confirmation that flies can transmit superbugs.<br />Dogs on chicken farms were also found to carry superbug genes. They can pass the superbugs directly onto humans.<br />SCMP<br />Kerry B. Collisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.com