A new study by Public Health England (PHE) aims to establish the most significant reservoirs of a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as ESBL-positive E. coli that cause human illness in the UK.
The findings will help to develop intervention strategies in efforts to reduce the numbers of infections such as urinary tract infections or blood poisoning, caused by these bacteria. The study will look at sewage, farm slurry and raw meat to determine whether there are any potential risks to human health in a number of different reservoirs of these bacteria. It will also look at stool samples from patients who have no symptoms of illness to see whether the bacteria is in their gut. Not all types of ESBL-positive E. coli bacteria cause human disease, and the contribution to human disease made by resistant strains from animals, meat and environmental sources is not currently very well understood. Resistant strains of E. coli are an increasing problem, reducing the number of antibiotics that can be used for treatment. Many of the resistant strains produce enzymes called extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), which make them resistant to most penicillin-like antibiotics. E. coli with ESBLs can also be found in food animals, raw retail meat, sewage and river water, but further research is needed to establish whether these reservoirs pose any public health risk. Professor Neil Woodford, head of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections Reference Unit at PHE, said: “The risks posed to human health by resistant E. coli from non-human reservoirs are not fully understood. This study will help to disentangle this complex interrelationship. Treatment of infections caused by resistant E. coli can be difficult, which is why we need to understand the risks better.”
Photo Credit:CDC
