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- ROCKVILLE, Md. (Reuters)
- An estimated 5,000 people last year may have picked up a drug-resistant
strain of food poisoning from handling or eating chicken and were not cured
after receiving initial antibiotic treatments, a study released on Thursday
said.
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- The accuracy and significance of the findings were vigorously
debated by scientists, public health advocates and industry representatives
at a public meeting called by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
to try to determine whether giving antibiotics to animals poses a serious
human health threat.
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- Scientists believe the routine use of antibiotics in
farm animals has spurred development of drug-resistant bacteria, or ''superbugs,''
that can be passed to humans if meat from antibiotic-treated animals is
not handled or cooked properly.
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- The FDA is considering placing limits on antibiotic use
on the farm, especially for drugs considered last resorts for stopping
some human infections.
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- ``We have gotten away from talking about zero risk,''
said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.
``... We're talking about what is an acceptable level of risk.''
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- Makers of animal drugs contend the risk to humans is
small, and that antibiotics help keep livestock healthy and the food supply
affordable. They say that in addition to treating animal sickness, antibiotics
help them grow faster.
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- The study ordered by the FDA looked at campylobacter,
the most common type of food poisoning, that could not be killed with an
antibiotic from a class known as fluoroquinolones, usually the first-line
treatment for campylobacter infections.
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- David Vose, the independent consultant who conducted
the study, used a complex mathematical model to calculate the risk to humans,
which he acknowledged was hard to measure.
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- Vose relied on federal statistics on the number of campylobacter
infections confirmed by laboratory tests in the United States in 1998.
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- Assuming those numbers represented only a portion of
all campylobacter cases, Vose estimated 2 million people were infected
by the bacteria. Then, he factored in the number of people with infections
serious enough to seek treatment, and the likelihood that their cases were
drug resistant.
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- He concluded about 5,000 people were infected with resistant
types of campylobacter and probably received fluoroquinolones that did
not work. Because the patients were delayed in getting successful treatment,
they were sick for an average of two days longer than normal, Vose said.
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- Vose acknowledged the study relied on several assumptions.
''It recognizes the uncertainties,'' Vose said, ``but the uncertainties
could be eased a great deal if we were able to collect more data.''
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- Campylobacter usually causes mild to moderate diarrhea,
abdominal pain and fever, generally for one day to one week. Most patients
do not go to their doctors for treatment.
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- But Dr. Fred Angulo of the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said campylobacter can lead to serious infections,
especially for children, the elderly or people with weak immune systems.
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- ``There may be more severe harm to them than just two
more days of diarrhea,'' Angulo said.
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- Officials are using the two-day meeting to hear comments
on whether Vose's study should be used as a model for assessing the threat
to people.
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- A spokesman said the agriculture industry recognizes
the need to use antibiotics wisely and that the study showed ``99.9 percent
of the U.S. population'' was not at risk for that specific type of infection.
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- ``There appears to be a very low risk to the U.S. population,''
said Dr. Richard Carnevale, vice president for scientific, international
and regulator affairs for the Animal Health Institute.
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