http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23379159-details/Virulent+form+of+e.coli+comes+from+British+farm+produce/article.do
Virulent form of e.coli comes from British farm produce
21.12.06
A deadly new superbug responsible for scores of deaths may be linked to British farms and food, it has emerged.
A virulent form of e.coli has killed at least 57 people in two separate outbreaks in the UK.
But the true scale of infection and death caused by the bug, which is linked to blood poisoning and urinary tract infections, is thought to be much higher.
The original source of the "super e.coli" has been a mystery.
However, the Daily Mail has learned that Government experts are investigating a possible link to bugs found in farm animals.
There are concerns the infection may be spread to humans through meat and milk which is either produced in this country or imported.
The super e.coli strain produces enzymes called extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) which stop many drugs working. Consequently, vulnerable people who become infected are very difficult to treat.
Some 28 people died and another 200 were infected with this ESBL e.coli in Shropshire between in the 12 months to March 2004.
Another 29 deaths were revealed in Southampton last year. Other cases have been found across the country.
The government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has raised concerns about the bug amid fears it could become as serious as MRSA. The majority of the outbreaks and deaths have ocurred in hospitals, however it is believed the bug has been picked up in the community.
Humans can carry the bug in their gut. It is a particular risk to the elderly and others whose immune systems are not functioning properly because of illness.
Dr Georgina Duckworth, a superbug expert at the government's Health Protection Agency(HPA) has compiled a report on the emergence of the ESBL e.coli.
She concluded: "The findings in our report show evidence of people carrying these bacteria in their gut. If this is found to be commonplace in the general population this may point towards the food chain being a potential source."
Last year, British scientists found strains of the ESBL e.coli among sick and dying calves for the first time on a dairy farm in Wales. Twenty-seven of 48 calves examined - 56 per cent - carried the bug.
Since then, government vets have found similar strains of the bug on nine farms across the country, including Cheshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.
They do not know how long the bug has been present on farms in this country.
The problem is not restricted to UK farms. Similar strains of the ESBL e.coli have also been found in France, Spain, Denmark and Japan. Experts at the government's HPA and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency(VLA) are investigating whether the use of certain types of antibiotics on factory farms triggered the creation of the superbug.
Heavy use of drugs on farms is designed to kill e.coli and other bugs in animals such as dairy cattle and pigs. However, one side-effect is that resistant strains can develop.
It is these resistant strains which are believed to be getting into the human population.
A report from these experts warned: "Spread of this form of resistance in bacteria affecting the animal population could have serious implications for animal health, rendering many therapeutic options redundant.
"Spread is also undesirable from the public health perspective, in that the livestock population might provide a reservoir of resistant strains and genes that could be transferred to the human population."
The Soil Association, which promotes organic farming, believes the heavy use of certain antibiotics is responsible for the creation of ESBL e.coli.
It has written to farming minister, Ben Bradshaw, both highlighting an increase in antibiotic use and calling for new controls.
The Association is particularly worried about the increased use of antibiotics called cephalosporins. In 2005, some four tonnes of active ingredient was used on British farms, which was up by 23 per cent on 2004 and 58 per cent on 2002.
Association expert, Richard Young said: "Government scientists are unsure exactly how this type of super e.coli started and why it is spreading so quickly, but many of them accept that the infection is sometimes carried on food and that the farm use of antibiotics, in particular a group of antibiotics known as 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins, may be a reason for the growing problem."
He said: "This is yet another problem associated with intensive livestock farming. It's time the Government showed leadership and got a grip of the situation.
"The Government has sat back and allowed the farm use of implicated drugs to rise during the precise period when this new superbug emerged and started spreading." The Association is calling for a ban on the advertising of the suspect drugs to farmers and the provision of advice to vets and all livestock farmers on how to reduce reliance on them. Even some organic farmers use these antibiotics, however use is more strictly controlled than on other farms.
The government's food and farming department DEFRA has refused to identify those farms where the ESBL e.coli has been found.
It has also decided not to stop meat and milk from the infected animals from going into the human food chain. It is claimed that the heat treatment of milk during pasteurisation would kill off any harmful bugs. However, this policy is under review.
To date, the evidence is that the strains of the disease found in the animals is not identical to that found in the majority of human cases.
However, the Soil Association says this may be because there has been a mutation.
DEFRA said there could be a different reason, other than the use of drugs in farm animals, for the development of the ESBL e.coli.
It said that farm animals may have caught the bugs from humans, by coming into contact with sewage, or from their food. The HPA said some 950 cases of standard e.coli infection were reported in 2005. The numbers have been around this level for a decade, however they were much lower in the 1980s, with less than 100 a year.
It was unable to give figures for ESBL e.coli. Earlier this week it emerged that a strain of the hospital superbug, MRSA, which attacks healthy young people, has caused deaths in British hospitals for the first time.
Seven people were infected in an outbreak at a West Midlands hospital. Two - a hospital worker and a patient - died.
Gunbattles broke out between Hamas, Fatah
GAZA CITY - A fierce gunbattle broke out between Hamas and Fatah militants in Gaza City early Friday, underscoring the fragility of a two-day old truce that had largely ended factional violence there.
The street battle erupted when Hamas militiamen tried to free two kidnapped militants, including a senior member of the Islamic group.
It died down after 20 minutes as Muslim clerics and other mediators worked to restore the cease-fire. Nobody was hurt despite the battle's intensity, health officials said.
Hamas said its fighters exchanged fire with Fatah-affiliated militants behind the abductions.
The fight quickly spread, drawing in guards outside the residence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, and Hamas militiamen guarding the home of Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas Zahar. Abbas was not in Gaza at the time.
Meanwhile, Palestinians stepped up rocket attacks on Israel, including one that veered off course and hit a Gaza home, injuring a 2-year-old Palestinian boy sleeping in his bedroom, officials aid.
Six other rockets landed in Israel, but nobody was hurt. The barrage threatened a separate cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians that ended months of Israeli military activity in the Gaza strip.
A minister in Olmert's Cabinet said it was time to call off the cease-fire.
"Enough restraint," Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio. "Israel is many things, but a suicidal state isn't one of them."
A week of factional violence in Gaza has killed 16 people and left dozens injured across Gaza before the truce took effect Tuesday night.
Hamas blamed the Thursday night kidnappings on a clan affiliated with Fatah that was trying to avenge the deaths of two its members in an earlier round of fighting.
In Friday's battle, gunmen on rooftops fired at others in the streets. The presidential guard took up defensive positions behind newly built walls of sandbags and barriers of cement blocs outside Abbas' residence.
Hamas officials said the Fatah gunmen shot at Zahar's home.
One witness said several rocket-propelled grenades were also launched.
Residents said they put their children in bathtubs for protection against stray bullets. Others tucked themselves in corners for safety.
The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for some of the rockets that landed in Israel, including one that hit a community center the southern town of Sderot. The army said the rocket caused some damage but nobody was hurt.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack that struck the Gaza home. In the past, similar cases of Palestinians being hurt by Palestinian rockets have led to backlashes against militant groups, whose attacks against Israel are generally supported by the public.
The boy, Samir al-Masri, suffered two broken legs, said Dr. Said Judeh of Kamal Adwan hospital. The boy's 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother were lightly wounded by shrapnel, said their uncle, Jad al-Masri.
Abbas, a moderate, has repeatedly called for an end to rocket fire, saying they only invite harsh Israeli retaliation.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas said he hoped to hold a long-awaited summit with Olmert by the end of the year.
"We always showed our willingness to hold this meeting with Olmert, and it's no secret that we hope it will take place before the end of this year," Abbas said at a news conference with the visiting Italian foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema. "There is progress in preparations for this meeting."
The two leaders have repeatedly expressed readiness to meet for what would be their first summit. But preparations have bogged down amid disagreements over the agenda.
Abbas wants Israel to promise to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Olmert has ruled out a prisoner release until Hamas-linked militants free an Israeli soldier they captured last June. Olmert's spokesman, Jacob Galanti, said he was not aware of firm plans for a meeting.
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