Quarter of UK supermarket-bought chicken carries antibiotic-resistant E.coli
Antibiotic resistant E-coli can be found in a quarter of supermarket-bought chicken, according to Cambridge University research, a bug that can cause stomach pain, kidney failure and even death. The bug was found in samples of meat purchased from all seven major British supermarkets - Tesco, Aldi, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose, Co-op and Asda. "Every time someone falls ill, instead of just getting a food poisoning bug they might be getting a bug that is antibiotic resistant. By the time they get on to the right antibiotic, the bug could be out of control. It can even lead to death," warns University of Cambridge's Mark Holmes. This latest news increases concerns regarding factory farming and the safety of fresh meat.

Superbug strains of E.coli have been found in one in four supermarket chicken samples.

The revelations raise serious concerns about factory farms and the safety of fresh meat.

Antibiotic-resistant E.coli was detected on 22 of 92 chicken pieces bought from seven major supermarkets.

The samples included whole roasting chickens, packs of legs, thighs, drumsticks and diced breast meat.

Superbug strains of E.coli have been found in one in four supermarket chicken samples (file photo)

Antibiotic-resistant E.coli was detected on 22 of 92 chicken pieces bought from seven major supermarkets - including Tesco

E.coli, which kills more than 5,500 people a year in England, is associated with sepsis and urinary tract infections.

Modern farming techniques have been blamed for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria such as E.coli, campylobacter and salmonella.

Common bugs that make animals sick are mutating to become resistant to the antibiotics that farms use to eradicate them.

When people contract the same bugs doctors find it difficult to clear up their infections.

Meat from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, the Co-op and Aldi was involved in the testing.

HORROR INFECTION LEFT TV DOCTOR AT DEATH'S DOOR Ordeal: Chris Steele's heart was starting to fail Chris Steele came close to death after developing blood poisoning triggered by an E.coli infection. The resident doctor on ITV’s This Morning could barely breathe and was on the brink of heart failure as sepsis took hold. It was only a 999 call by his wife and a race by ambulance to hospital that led to the treatment that saved his life. Virulent E.coli infections have struck down many more victims since Dr Steele’s ordeal in 2009. Speaking at the time, he said: ‘I had no idea what it was. ‘I didn’t have my doctor hat on – all my knowledge flew out of the window. All I could think of was that my breathing was so bad I must be at severe risk of heart failure and I needed help fast.’ Dr Steele was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital in south Manchester where it was discovered that his body was fighting a massive infection. Test results together with scans of his kidney, abdomen and chest revealed the trigger was E. coli. The bacteria, which normally live in the colon, had without any obvious cause escaped the intestine and moved to the kidneys, from where they had entered the bloodstream. This then triggered sepsis or blood poisoning, which is caused by the body’s response to the infection. Dr Steele was prescribed strong antibiotics through a drip which effectively saved his life. He said: ‘After a few hours the antibiotics kicked in, the shaking stopped and I started drifting in and out of sleep. When they transferred me to a ward I spent most of the next two days sleeping while my body recovered. ‘During that time my consultant had the lab results which confirmed my blood poisoning had been caused by E.coli. When he told me, I was absolutely staggered. ‘As a doctor I knew the bug could strike like this. But as a patient I was absolutely shocked at the sheer randomness of it. ‘It’s quite frightening how it can strike at any time and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->

A total of 189 chicken and pork samples were examined by Mark Holmes, reader in microbial genomics and veterinary science at the University of Cambridge.

‘The levels of resistant E.coli that we have found are worrying,’ he said, adding that families can protect themselves by handling fresh meat carefully and cooking it thoroughly.

‘Every time someone falls ill, instead of just getting a food poisoning bug they might also be getting a bug that is antibiotic resistant.

‘If they end up developing sepsis or a urinary tract infection they may well find they have a bug that is resistant to the first choice antibiotic.

‘By the time they get on to the right antibiotic the bug could be out of control. It can even lead to death.

‘I am concerned that insufficient resources are being put into the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in farm animals and retail meat.

‘These results highlight the need for improvements in antibiotic stewardship in veterinary medicine.’

Meat from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, the Co-op and Aldi was involved in the testing

A total of 189 chicken and pork samples, including items from Asda, were examined by Mark Holmes, reader in microbial genomics and veterinary science at the University of Cambridge

The study, which is the first of its kind to look for the presence of antibiotic-resistant strains of E.coli on high street meat, was commissioned by the campaigning group Alliance to Save our Antibiotics.

The group is made up of health, medical, environmental and animal welfare groups, including the Soil Association, Compassion in World Farming and Sustain.

Its scientific adviser, Cóilín Nunan, said: ‘These findings should be a wake-up call for supermarkets and the Government.

‘They show that many consumers are being exposed to high levels of antibiotic resistance daily at meal time. Scientific evidence is accumulating that the overuse of antibiotics on farms is an important contributor to antibiotic resistance in E.coli infections.

‘E.coli is now killing more than twice as many people as MRSA and Clostridium difficile combined, so the price of any further inaction will be measured in human lives.’

The samples included whole roasting chickens, packs of legs, thighs, drumsticks and diced breast meat (file photos)

The Government’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has said the use of antibiotics on farm animals has been instrumental in the rise of superbugs.

Dame Sally has called on ministers and the farming industry to radically reduce the use of such drugs, which are deployed particularly on intensive factory farms.

She has painted an alarming scenario where in the future even minor infections could become untreatable.

Nineteen per cent of the E. coli were resistant to gentamicin, a very important human antibiotic used to treat more serious upper urinary-tract infections (file photo)

‘Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat,’ she said. ‘If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics.’

The Cambridge research found 24 per cent of chicken was positive for ESBL E.coli, which is resistant to the critically important modern cephalosporin antibiotics used in human medicine.

The study also found that half of all chicken and pork samples – 51 per cent – were resistant to the antibiotic trimethoprim, which is used to treat over half of lower urinary-tract infections.

Nineteen per cent of the E. coli were resistant to gentamicin, a very important human antibiotic used to treat more serious upper urinary-tract infections.

Antibiotic-resistant E.coli was found in samples from all the seven supermarkets surveyed. Researchers collected 174 samples from stores across England and another 15 from Scotland.