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Most raw chicken in hospitals contained ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae
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More than 80% of raw chicken samples tested in a hospital kitchen were positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase–producing Enterobacteriaceae, according to a report in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
In addition, six of 93 food handlers were identified as carriers of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)–producing Enterobacteriaceae. However, none of the cooked food samples were positive for the bacteria.
“While a high proportion of chicken contaminated by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli is a significant concern, robust food safety measures taken by hospital kitchen staff are able to prevent the spread of these pathogens and minimize risk to food handlers, staff and patients,” Andrew Stewardson, MD, of the University of Geneva Hospitals in Switzerland, said in a press release.
Stewardson and colleagues obtained raw and prepared food samples from the hospital kitchen as well as samples from local supermarkets to serve as a comparator group. Hospital staff involved with food preparation provided stool samples and completed a questionnaire about predictors for colonization with ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. After determining the strains found on the food and in the food handlers, they compared those strains with those identified from a random sample of patients at the hospital who were positive for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae.
The study included 134 food samples, including chicken, eggs, beef and rabbit. Of the raw chicken, 92% of the samples were positive for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae, including 30 of the hospital samples (86%) and all of the supermarket samples. There were no antibiotic residuals found in the hospital or the supermarket foods. There were no strains isolated from the raw egg, beef or rabbit, or from any of the cooked samples. Ninety-three of the eligible food handlers provided stool samples and six of these (6.5%) were positive for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae.
After testing with PCR, the researchers found that the E. coli strains derived from the humans and the food samples were distinct. There were five groups of strains identified. Three included phylogroup D strains unique to food origin. One group included six phylogroup B2 strains that are unique to human origin. One group included phylogroup A strains that were of food and human origin.
“No single strain was identified from both food and human sources,” Stewardson and colleagues wrote. “However, with the exception of ST-131, which was found uniquely in strains of human origin, there was no clear distinction in strain lineage when comparing ESBL-producing E. coli from humans and chicken meat in both Switzerland and the Netherlands.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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