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U.S. Zika vaccine begins second phase of testing

FILE PHOTO: A pair of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are seen during a mating ritual while the female feeds on a blood meal in a 2003 image from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). REUTERS/Centers for Disease Control/James Gathany/Handout via Reuters

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Researchers have begun the second phase of testing of a Zika vaccine developed by U.S. government scientists in a trial that could yield preliminary results as early as the end of 2017.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said on Friday the $100 million trial has already been funded and will proceed, irrespective of the $7 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget proposed by the Trump Administration over the next 18 months.

In a conference call with reporters, Fauci would not comment on the proposed cuts because it is not clear yet what the actual budget will be. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers oppose cuts to the NIH, which funds 21 institutes, including NIAID.

NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins is scheduled to speak with President Donald Trump later on Friday. “I will certainly be talking to Francis Collins when he returns from the White House,” Fauci said.

Zika typically causes mild symptoms, but when the virus infects a pregnant women, she can pass it to her fetus, causing a variety of birth defects including microcephaly, in which the baby’s head is abnormally small.

Fauci said the current Zika vaccine candidate had cleared preliminary safety hurdles, and would now enter testing for efficacy, which would occur in two phases.

The first phase will continue testing for safety and evaluate the vaccine’s ability to stimulate the immune system to develop antibodies to fight Zika. It will also test different doses to see which works best.

The second phase, set to begin in June, will attempt to determine if the vaccine can actually prevent Zika infection.

Several companies are developing Zika vaccines, including Sanofi SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

In the NIAID study, researchers aim to enroll at least 2,490 healthy volunteers in areas with confirmed or potential active transmission of Zika by mosquitoes. These include parts of the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico. They will receive either the vaccine, or a placebo, and be followed for two years.

If enough people are exposed to the virus, Fauci said they could get an effectiveness signal as early as the end of this year. The trial is expected to be completed by 2019.

Fauci said the government is already in discussions with pharmaceutical companies that would share the costs of the final stage of testing and handle manufacturing.

Zika is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, but it can also be transmitted sexually. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,182 people in the continental United States have been infected by Zika either locally or through travel to places where the virus is spreading. Another 38,303 cases have been reported in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; editing by Diane Craft)

U.S.-UK alliance targets the world’s deadliest superbugs

MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria strain is seen in a petri dish containing agar jelly for bacterial culture in a microbiological laboratory in Berlin March 1, 2008. MRSA is a drug-resistant "superbug", which can cause deadly infections. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – Eleven biotech companies and research teams in Britain and the United States were awarded up to $48 million in funding on Thursday to speed development of new antibiotics powerful enough to take on the world’s deadliest superbugs.

The range of antimicrobial medicines able to kill the growing number of drug-resistant infections is dwindling and health experts warn that within a generation the death toll from such “superbug” infections could reach 10 billion.

Announcing its first funding, a new U.S.-U.K. alliance known as CARB-X, short for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, said it would invest an initial $24 million in 11 biotech companies pursing various projects to develop antibiotics and diagnostic. Another $24 million will be given in staged payments over three years as projects progress.

Added to private funds from the companies, the CARB-X funding could lead to an investment of more than $75 million in projects that show success, it said in a statement. Britain’s Wellcome Trust global health charity is committing 125 million pounds ($155.5 million) over five years.

Public health specialists have been warning for years that the world is facing an urgent global health threat from antibiotic-resistant superbug bacteria and that the pipeline of novel therapies to treat them is precariously thin.

Drug-resistant infections kill 700,000 people a year worldwide, and the last new antibiotic class to be approved for market was discovered in 1984.

With CARB-X funds, three of the 11 projects are working on potential new classes of antibiotics, while four are exploring new ways of targeting and killing bacteria.

Tim Jinks, head of drug resistant infection at the Wellcome Trust, said antibiotic resistance is already “a huge global health challenge” and is getting worse. “Without effective drugs, doctors cannot treat patients,” he said in a statement.

Kevin Outterson, CARB-X’s executive director and a professor of law at Boston University in the United States, added: “By accelerating promising research, it is our hope that we can speed up the delivery of new effective antibacterials, vaccines, devices and rapid diagnostics to patients who need them.”

(Editing by Alexander Smith)

Top U.S. chicken producing state suffers first case of bird flu

quarantine researcher checking chickens on poultry farm for bird flu

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Georgia has confirmed its first-ever case of bird flu in commercial poultry, its agriculture department said on Monday, widening an outbreak of the disease into the United States’ biggest chicken meat-producing state.

A flock of 18,000 chickens used for breeding was culled after testing positive for H7 bird flu, according to the agriculture department. It said the birds in far northwestern Georgia were likely infected with a form of the virus that is not highly lethal because the flock did not show signs of illness.

The discovery came after officials in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee confirmed cases of highly pathogenic, or lethal, and low pathogenic H7N9 bird flu in breeding operations this month. U.S. officials have said the risk of the disease spreading to people from poultry or making food unsafe is low.

But the spread of highly pathogenic bird flu to poultry in new states would represent a financial risk for meat companies because it could kill more birds or require flocks to be culled. It could also trigger more import bans from other countries after South Korea and other buyers limited U.S. poultry shipments following highly pathogenic cases in Tennessee.

The worst-ever U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry in 2014 and 2015 killed about 50 million birds, most of which were egg-laying hens in Iowa.

More than 200,000 breeding chickens in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky have been killed in recent weeks by high and low pathogenic bird flu or culled to contain the virus, according to state officials. U.S. poultry producers had about 55.1 million breeder hens on hand as of March 1, according to the USDA.

In 2015, Georgia produced 7.9 billion pounds of chicken meat valued at $4.2 billion, the agency said.

“Poultry is the top sector of our number one industry, agriculture, and we are committed to protecting the livelihoods of the many farm families that are dependent on it,” Gary Black, Georgia’s agriculture commissioner, said in a statement.

Some companies are still feeling pressure related to the 2015 losses.

On Monday, Cal-Maine Foods, the biggest U.S. egg producer, said its quarterly sales fell about 32 percent from a year ago because prices were under pressure after farmers increased production in response to an outbreak two years ago.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Alabama waits for U.S. verdict on bird flu; importers limit trade

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. trading partners on Friday limited shipments of poultry from Alabama, a top producer of chickens for meat, over bird flu concerns as the state’s wait for federal confirmation of two suspected cases stretched past a week.

The European Union, Kazakhstan and French Polynesia restricted shipments from Alabama counties with presumed cases of the disease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website. The moves came a day after the state reported the agency’s national animal-health laboratories had confirmed a separate case of bird flu there.

Belarus blocked shipments from the entire state.

Alabama officials and poultry producers have been waiting since March 8 for the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) to confirm the two suspected cases, which involve a commercial chicken farm and a backyard flock, according to the state. The facility in Ames, Iowa, is the only one in the United States that officially confirms cases of avian flu.

Swift confirmation is important for U.S. trading partners, some of which restrict shipments from geographic areas with infected flocks, and for state officials, who want to know which strain of the virus they are battling.

Highly pathogenic, or lethal, bird flu led to the deaths of about 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, in the United States in 2014 and 2015.

Another widespread outbreak could be a financial blow for poultry operators, such as Tyson Foods Inc or Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, because it could kill more birds or require flocks to be culled.

The national labs must determine the strain and pathogenicity of the disease in order to officially confirm an infection, according to the USDA. The process often takes just a day.

A rapid test can be made when poultry samples contain sufficient genetic material, USDA spokeswoman Lyndsay Cole said on Thursday. But the samples from Alabama’s two suspected cases contained low levels, meaning scientists had to start a testing process that can take 14 days, she said.

Tests by a USDA-approved lab in Alabama and the national labs have already identified the H7 subtype of the virus from samples in the two suspected cases, she said.

“Our department respects the science behind the testing and is patiently waiting for accurate results,” said Amy Belcher, spokeswoman for Alabama’s agriculture department.

Alabama authorities presume the suspected cases are not highly lethal, or pathogenic, bird flu because the animals did not show signs of being sick. Still, officials have been checking birds at nearby farms for infections and the owners of the suspect flocks culled the birds, according to Alabama’s state veterinarian.

The United States must alert the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) if Alabama’s suspected cases are confirmed as positive, a step that could trigger more trade restrictions.

The OIE said “it is more important for the laboratory to be sure of its analysis than to be fast with it.”

(Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Bird flu hits another U.S. farm that supplies Tyson Foods

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Bird flu that is highly lethal to poultry has infected a second commercial chicken farm in Tennessee that supplies Tyson Foods Inc, company and state officials said on Thursday.

The finding expands an outbreak near the major chicken-producing states of Alabama and Georgia, and is the second in the type of breeder flock crucial for keeping the chicken-meat industry supplied with birds. A case of less dangerous bird flu was confirmed in Alabama on Thursday.

In Tennessee, authorities have started to cull the infected flock of 55,000 chickens in Lincoln County, to contain the highly pathogenic H7N9 flu, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The farm was in a quarantine zone established after authorities this month found the same strain of the disease in a flock of about 73,500 chickens less than 2 miles (3.2 km) away, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture said. That farm also supplied Tyson, the world’s biggest chicken company.

“I’m sure on the part of the company they’re quite concerned and going back and reviewing all of their information and data to determine how in the world this got into the buildings,” said Bret Marsh, state veterinarian in Indiana, which had the nation’s only highly pathogenic bird flu case in poultry in 2016.

The initial case in Tennessee was the nation’s first infection of highly pathogenic bird flu at a commercial operation in more than a year. Tennessee also recently detected a less-dangerous case of low-pathogenic flu in another chicken flock.

On Thursday, Alabama said the USDA confirmed a suspected case of low-pathogenic flu in a guinea fowl at a flea market as H7N9. Aviagen, the world’s largest poultry breeding company, has culled chickens in the state over concerns about the disease.

Highly pathogenic bird flu led to the deaths of about 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, in the United States in 2014 and 2015.

Another widespread outbreak could represent a financial blow for poultry operators because it could kill more birds or require flocks to be culled. It also would likely trigger more import bans from trading partners, after South Korea, Japan and other countries limited imports after the first highly pathogenic case in Tennessee.

China has also been grappling with an outbreak of H7N9, which has killed 161 people since October. U.S. authorities have said that strain is genetically distinct from the H7N9 in Tennessee and that the risk of the disease spreading to people from poultry or making food unsafe is low.

Tyson said it worked with Tennessee and federal officials to quickly euthanize birds in the infected flock and did not expect disruptions to its chicken supply.

“Our business is diversified and scaled across multiple states, so we plan to meet our customers’ needs,” spokesman Worth Sparkman said.

Tyson shares fell 1.7 percent to close at $62.00 on Thursday.

The company has said it tests all the birds it owns for the virus and flocks diagnosed with highly pathogenic flu are not processed.

Wild birds can carry the disease without showing signs of sickness and transmit it to poultry through feces, feathers or other forms of contract.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

Poultry breeder Aviagen culls U.S. flock over bird flu fears

FILE PHOTO: The Avian influenza virus is harvested from a chicken egg as part of a diagnostic process in this undated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) handout image. Erica Spackman/USDA/Handout/File Photo via REUTERS

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Aviagen [EWESJA.UL], the world’s leading poultry breeding company, has euthanized chickens at a farm in Alabama over concerns about bird flu, the company said on Tuesday, as likely cases of the disease emerged in a top chicken-producing state.

Alabama officials said they suspected that poultry at three sites in the state were infected with the virus, about a week after some 90,500 chickens were culled over infections at two commercial operations across the border in Tennessee.

Aviagen detected the presence of antibodies for the flu virus in a flock in Alabama that showed “no evidence of clinical disease,” company spokeswoman Marla Robinson said in an email. The company is based in Alabama.

The company euthanized the flock and “all eggs which were collected from that farm in the production system were traced and removed,” she said. Aviagen did not respond to a question about how many birds were killed.

Tony Frazier, Alabama’s state veterinarian, said the company chose to cull about 15,000 birds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the farm had 153,000 birds.

A national USDA lab is testing samples from poultry in Alabama to identify the strain of the virus and how lethal it is for birds, after another agency-approved lab identified the H7 subtype of the disease in samples, USDA spokeswoman Lyndsay Cole said.

The birds in Alabama did not show clinical signs of sickness, which indicates they did not have a highly lethal, or pathogenic, form of the virus, Cole said.

In Tennessee, both cases were identified as H7N9. The USDA on March 5 confirmed that one was the United States’ first infection of highly pathogenic flu in commercial poultry in a year. Days later, the state said it had found the other case nearby and it was low pathogenic.

Highly pathogenic bird flu led to the deaths of about 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, in the United States in 2014 and 2015.

Another highly pathogenic outbreak would likely represent a financial blow for poultry operators such as Tyson Foods Inc and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp because it would kill more birds or require flocks to be culled.

It also would likely trigger more import bans from trading partners, after South Korea, Japan and other countries limited imports after the highly pathogenic case in Tennessee.

Health officials have said the risk of bird flu spreading to people from poultry or making food unsafe was low.

Separately, Frazier said the owner of a backyard flock suspected of having the virus chose to cull about 70 birds. No poultry linked to the third suspected case, which involved birds at a flea market, have been culled, he said.

Frazier said the cases were still only suspected flu infections and needed to be confirmed by the USDA. Earlier, the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries called a news conference to discuss what it said were three findings of avian influenza.

Alabama raised more than 1 billion chickens for meat in 2015, making it the country’s third largest producer, according to the USDA.

The national USDA laboratory, to which samples from the state were sent, is the only one in the United States that officially confirms cases.

The World Organization for Animal Health requires that all confirmed low-pathogenic H5 and H7 bird flu subtypes be reported because of their potential to mutate into highly pathogenic strains. Highly pathogenic cases also must be reported.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Frances Kerry, Toni Reinhold)

Bird flu infects Alabama poultry, likely low pathogenic -officials

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Bird flu has infected poultry at three sites in northern Alabama shortly after being found at two farms in neighboring Tennessee, and more chickens have been culled to contain the virus, state and industry officials in Alabama said on Tuesday.

The cases in Alabama are suspected to be the less dangerous form of the disease, known as low pathogenic, because the infected flocks did not have high levels of mortality, said Ray Hilburn, associate director of the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association, an industry group.

The flocks were near the spot in southern Tennessee where the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed on March 5 the nation’s first case of highly pathogenic flu in commercial poultry in more than a year. Days later, Tennessee said it had detected low-pathogenic flu at another chicken farm nearby.

Highly pathogenic bird flu is often fatal for domesticated poultry and led to the deaths of about 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, in the United States in 2014 and 2015. The less-serious low pathogenic flu form can cause coughing, depression and other symptoms in birds.

The spread of highly pathogenic flu could represent a financial blow for poultry operators such as Tyson Foods Inc and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp because it would kill more birds or require flocks to be culled. It also would trigger more import bans from other countries, after South Korea, Japan and other nations limited imports following the highly pathogenic case in Tennessee.

Alabama has not received any definitive test results that show its cases are highly pathogenic, said Amy Belcher, spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. No epidemiological connections have been made between the cases in Tennessee and Alabama, she added.

Belcher declined to discuss culling of the birds ahead of a news conference on bird flu, or avian influenza (AI), in the state on Tuesday.

Hilburn said infected birds had been culled but did not know how many. He said one case in Alabama was at a commercial breeding facility for chickens raised for meat and one involved a backyard flock.

“As soon as they find out that its possibly any type of AI, they’re going to get rid of the birds,” Hilburn said. “They don’t take a chance on anything.”

Health officials have said the risk of bird flu spreading to people from poultry or making food unsafe was low.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Frances Kerry)

Zika risk went beyond Florida’s Miami-Dade County: U.S. officials

A map showing the active Zika zone is on display at the Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami, Florida, U.S. on August 9, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Keane/File Photo

By Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) – Local transmission of the Zika virus in Florida may have occurred as early as June 15 of last year and likely infected people who lived not only in Miami-Dade County, but in two nearby counties, U.S. health officials said on Monday.

The warning means that some men who donated semen to sperm banks in the area may not have been aware that they were at risk of infection, and may have donated sperm infected with the Zika virus, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration told reporters in a telephone briefing.

The information is concerning because Zika has been shown to cause birth defects in women who become infected while pregnant. Previously, the CDC had warned of the risk of Zika in Miami-Dade County, beginning on July 29.

But the new warning dials that risk back to June 15, and adds in both Broward and Palm Beach Counties, home to the major tourist destinations of Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

Zika’s arrival in Florida last summer followed the rapid spread of the mosquito-borne virus through Latin America and the Caribbean.

The World Health Organization last year declared Zika a global health emergency because of its link in Brazil with thousands cases of the birth defect microcephaly, which is marked by small head size and underdeveloped brains that can result in severe developmental problems.

U.S. officials said because of frequent travel between the three Florida counties, some women may have been infected and not been aware of it, either through contracting the infection directly from a mosquito bite while visiting Miami-Dade or through sex with an infected partner who had.

And because Zika has been shown to last up to three months in semen, it may mean some men living in the affected counties may have donated sperm without reporting they were at risk.

CDC Zika expert Dr. Denise Jamieson said the risk applies “particularly (to) women who became pregnant or are planning to become pregnant through the use of donor semen.” She urged these women to “consult their healthcare provider to discuss the donation source and whether Zika virus testing is indicated.”

The new warning came to light through investigations of several cases of Zika reported by the Florida Health Department late last year that suggested residents of Palm Beach or Broward counties may have become infected while traveling back and forth from Miami-Dade. According to the CDC, a total of 215 people are believed to have contracted Zika in Florida last year through the bite of a local mosquito. But since only one in five people infected with Zika become ill, experts believe the actual number was higher.

Officials said they weren’t aware of any women who contracted Zika from infected semen donated to one of the 12 sperm banks in the three-county area. There is no approved test for Zika in sperm.

Jamieson said the CDC does not have any new evidence of local Zika transmission, but said it may occur again in the coming year, adding that the CDC was “on the lookout for additional cases of Zika.”

A recent CDC study estimates that Zika infections cause a twenty-fold spike in the risk of certain birth defects, including microcephaly.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Sandra Maler and Mary Milliken)

Bird flu strikes Tennessee chickens again, in a less-dangerous form

The Avian influenza virus is harvested from a chicken egg as part of a diagnostic process in this undated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) handout image. REUTERS / Erica Spackman / USDA / Handout via Reuters

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A commercial flock of 17,000 chickens in Tennessee has been culled after becoming infected with low-pathogenic bird flu, state agricultural officials said on Thursday, days after a more dangerous form of the disease killed poultry in a neighboring county.

Authorities killed and buried chickens at the site in Giles County, Tennessee, “as a precaution” after a case of highly pathogenic flu in Lincoln County led to the deaths of about 73,500 chickens over the weekend, according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. It said officials did not believe birds at one premise sickened those at the other.

Highly pathogenic bird flu is often fatal for domesticated poultry and led to the deaths of about 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, in the United States in 2014 and 2015. Low-pathogenic flu is less serious and can cause coughing, depression and other symptoms in birds.

The highly pathogenic case in Tennessee was the first such infection in a commercial U.S. operation in more than a year and heightened fears among chicken producers that the disease may return.

The spread of highly pathogenic flu could represent a financial blow for poultry operators, such as Tyson Foods Inc and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, because it would kill more birds or require flocks to be culled. It also would trigger more import bans from other countries, after South Korea, Japan and other nations limited imports because of the case in Lincoln County.

Jack Shere, chief veterinary officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said in an interview that there was speculation the highly pathogenic virus found in Tennessee shared similar characteristics with a low-pathogenic virus that circulated in Tennessee, Kentucky, Minnesota and Illinois in 2009.

Wild migratory birds can carry the flu without showing symptoms and spread it to poultry through feces, feathers or other contact.

“This virus can mutate very easily, so low-pathogenic issues are just as important – when they are circulating among the wild birds – as the high-pathogenic issues,” Shere said.

Both cases in Tennessee were located along the state’s southern border with Alabama, one of the country’s top producers of “broiler” chickens for meat. They also were both in facilities for chickens that bred broiler birds and involved the same strain, H7N9, according to Tennessee’s agriculture department.

The state said it was testing poultry within a 10-kilometer radius of the Giles County site for the flu and so far had not found any other sick flocks.

“When routine testing showed a problem at this facility, the operators immediately took action and notified our lab,” said Charles Hatcher, Tennessee’s state veterinarian.

H7N9 is the same name as a strain of the virus that has killed people in China, but U.S. authorities said the Tennessee virus was genetically distinct.

U.S. officials have said the risk of bird flu spreading to people from poultry or making food unsafe was low.

Low-pathogenic bird flu also was recently detected on a turkey farm in Wisconsin. Authorities there decided to keep the birds under quarantine until they tested negative for the virus, rather than to cull them, according to the state.

(Additional reporting by Mark Weinraub in Washington, D.C.; Editing by G Crosse, Richard Chang and Bernard Orr)

‘Alarming’ superbugs a risk to people, animals and food, EU warns

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – Superbug bacteria found in people, animals and food across the European Union pose an “alarming” threat to public and animal health having evolved to resist widely used antibiotics, disease and safety experts warned on Wednesday.

A report on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said some 25,000 people die from such superbugs in the European Union every year.

“Antimicrobial resistance is an alarming threat putting human and animal health in danger,” said Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU’s health and food safety commissioner.

“We have put substantial efforts to stop its rise, but this is not enough. We must be quicker, stronger and act on several fronts.”

Drug resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages bacteria to evolve to survive and develop new ways of beating the medicines.

Wednesday’s report highlighted that in Salmonella bacteria – which can cause the common and serious food-borne infection Salmonellosis – multi-drug resistance is high across the EU.

Mike Catchpole, the ECDC’s chief scientist, said he was particularly concerned that some common types of Salmonella in humans, such as monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium, are showing extremely high multi-drug resistance.

“Prudent use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine is extremely important,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to ensure that antibiotics keep working.”

Resistance to carbapenem antibiotics – usually the last remaining treatment option for patients infected with multi-drug resistant superbugs – was detected for the first time in animals and food, albeit at low levels, as part of EU-wide annual monitoring for the report.

It said very low levels of resistance were observed in E. coli bacteria found in pigs and in meat from pigs.

Resistance to colistin, another last-resort human antibiotic – was also found at very low levels in Salmonella and E. coli in pigs and cattle, the report said.

Marta Hugas, head of EFSA’s biological hazards and contaminants unit, noted geographic variations across the European Union, with countries in northern and western Europe generally having lower resistance levels than those in southern and eastern Europe and said this was most likely due to differences in the level of use and overuse of the medicines.

“In countries where actions have been taken to reduce, replace and re-think the use of antimicrobials in animals show lower levels of antimicrobial resistance and decreasing trends,” she said.

(This story is a refile to remove extraneous word in first paragraph)

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

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