October 5, 2006

 

Study to find whether C.difficile bacteria may be harmful in meat
 

 

Scientists in Canada and the US are exploring whether eating meat with C. difficile would result in serious illnesses after they found evidence of infection in dairy calves from Ontario.

 

The study by researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph gave strong indication that it would.

 

If proven, this would spell trouble for the beleaguered beef industry, as the bacteria is known to cause severe diarhhea, especially in hospital patients.

 

However, the good news is that so far, most cases have involved patients in hospitals, whose gut flora may have been weakened by antibiotic use. The bad news? Cases of non-hospitalised patients have been rising and scientists are looking for other routes the bacterium is taking, food, for example. 

 

The last was given credence when a strain of Clostridium difficile found in the feces of dairy calves in Ontario was the same one that caused severe hospital outbreaks in Quebec, Britain and parts of the US.

 

Feces from 31 of 278 calves sourced from over a hundred farms in Canada tested positive for the bacteria.

 

Eight different strains of C. difficile were isolated, including the one blamed for hundreds of deaths in Quebec, Britain and parts of the US.

 

However, the authors said the cattle strains were "indistinguishable" from those that have infected humans.

 

Scientists admit it is not clear whether people can become infected and develop C. difficile-associated disease through eating meat containing the bacterium.

 

Dr. Scott Weese, a veterinarian who specialises in diseases that pass between animals and humans, said although C. difficile is not a foodborne pathogen, it is present in retail meat from grocery stores in Ontario. 

 

US agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the National Institutes of Health are actively following the research but have not drawn their own conclusions over the findings.

 

While some researchers are treating it as a-matter-of-course that the bacteria would be harmful for human health, others would prefer to find out for sure.

 

Some, however feel that it may turn out to be another food scare.

 

C.difficile may just be another one of hundreds of types of harmless bacteria we ingest with our food, said Jon Brazier, a microbiologist with the National Public Health Service of Wales. He speculates that the bacteria does not do any serious  harm unless the gut flora is weakened by antibiotics or other special circumstances.