Poultry trucks a source of bacteria

Baltimore, November 29: According to a latest study done by researchers at John Hopkins, poultry carriers are a reservoir of harmful bacteria. Even the motorists driving alongside chicken trucks are susceptible to getting infected by the antibioticdefine-resistant bacteria.

The researchers have proposed that further studies need to be done in areas where there is poultry production on a large scale.

In order to conduct the study, scientists at the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health followed ten poultry trucks on U.S. 13 down the Delmarva Peninsula. This was done during the summer and fall months of 2007.

The researchers trailed the vehicles with the windows of their car down and the air-conditioning system switched off. The researchers made sure that they come in contact with the air coming from the trucks.

What the researchers collected was heightened levels of bacteria in and on their car. Some of these did not get affected by the antibioticdefine drugs which are used to treat diseases in humans.

Earlier too it was reported by Bloomberg researcher Ellen Silbergeld that people who come in contact with raw or inadequately cooked poultry are at a bigger risk of getting affected by the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

It has been a question of debate if antibiotics should be fed to chickens or not. This is because bacteria can develop immunity to the drugs and this may ultimately make these drugs useless in treating human diseases.

Steve Pretanik, the industry group’s director of science and technology said that two strains of the Enterococcus bacterium detected by researchers are dangerous for human health. He also argued that researchers followed the truck from a very close distance and very few motorists would drive at that proximity level.

While talking about the antibiotic resistant bacteria, Ana Rule, a Bloomberg research associate and the study’s lead author, said, “We drove the same roads without following chicken trucks, and we didn't find the bacteria.” This points towards the fact that the bacterium is coming from the poultry trucks only.

The findings of the study were published in the inaugural issue of ‘Journal of Infection and Public Health’.