Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Flies Spread Bacteria Picked Up at Poultry Farms

Flies Spread Bacteria Picked Up at Poultry Farms

A new research study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that flies may be the culprit for spreading drug resistant bacteria from poultry farms. It is believed that up to 30,000 flies may visit a poultry farm in a six week period, increasing the chances of spreading bacteria to humans.

Flies pick up the antibiotic resistant bacteria from poultry houses and stored poultry waste. Flies have been know to spread diseases such as cholera, enteric fever, salmonellosis, and other bacteria.

The researchers found the drug resistant bacteria on both the flies and the poultry waste. This has lead them to believe that the flies may be transferring the contamination to humans or human food products.

Crowded animal farms where animals are kept in close quarters and fed antibiotics to prevent disease is the perfect recipe for creating these drug resistant bacteria and the flies are the perfect mode of transportation.

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