Antibiotic resistance in foodborne germs, an ongoing public health threat, continued to show both positive and challenging trends in 2013, according to human illness data11 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Efforts are underway to curb the injudicious use of antibiotics, but each year, antibiotic-resistant infections from foodborne germs cause an estimated 440,000 illnesses in the US.
The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) tracks changes in the antibiotic resistance of six types of common foodborne germs found in ill people, retail meats, and food animals.
In 2013, it tested more than 5,000 germs from sick people for antibiotic resistance and compared them with previous years’ data to assess changes in resistance patterns.
Among the findings in the new NARMS report on human illnesses:
1. Multidrug resistance (resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics) in Salmonella overall stayed steady, remaining at 10% of infections.
2. However, resistance in some types of Salmonella is increasing.
For example, multidrug resistance in a common Salmonella serotype called I4,[5],12:i:- was 46%, more than double the rate from two years before.
In the US, resistance in this serotype to four drugs (ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfonamides, and tetracycline) rose from 18% in 2011 to 46% in 2013.
Human illness with this serotype has been linked to animal exposure and consumption of pork or beef, including meats purchased from live animal markets.
3.NARMS also tests Campylobacter, another germ that is transmitted by food.
One in four Campylobacter samples from sick people are still resistant to quinolones like ciprofloxacin.
Most Salmonella and Campylobacter infections cause diarrheal illness that resolves within a week without antibiotics.
These germs can also cause infection of the bloodstream and other sites.
In more serious infections and when germs are resistant, antibiotics may be ineffective, increasing the chance of a severe illness.
