drug-resistant E. Coli in birds

January 3, 2008

Drug-resistant E. coli found in Arctic birds

" Resistance to antibiotics is so pervasive that scientists now report having

found evidence of drug-repelling E.coli in Arctic birds, the bacteria having

been passed by migratory fowl that circumnavigate the globe along centuries-old

flyways. Reporting in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, scientists in

Sweden traveled to vast regions of the frigid polar ice cap in search of species

they hoped had been spared exposure to drug-resistant strains. They were

surprised when they discovered widespread antibiotic-resistant E.coli in

Arctic-dwelling birds never exposed to the drugs.

Sjolund of Central Hospital in Vaxjo, Sweden, went on a series of Arctic

expeditions, collecting mostly fecal samples from 97 birds in three geographic

regions: northeastern Siberia; Point Barrow, Alaska; and northern Greenland.

Although the locations are thousands of miles apart, they are intimately linked

through looping migratory flyways.

Sjolund suggested her finding adds credence to the notion that antibiotic

resistance is global -- and that virtually no region of the world is unscathed.

Moreover, she and her team noted that while most of the emphasis on drug

resistance in recent decades has focused on antibiotic misuse by humans, there

now is evidence for the epidemic spread of drug-resistant strains by other

species.

[snip]

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Char

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