Diseases from Humans to Animals

Researchers at The Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh have identified a strain of bacteria that has crossed from humans to chickens. The study has identified that the bacteria is Staphylococcus aureus, residing in chickens but originally came from humans. The unique fact about this bacteria is that it has been confined to one geographical area for humans, but has spread pervasively across different continents in chickens. This spread may be caused by the monopoly of poultry by a select few multinational companies, which supply chickens from a limited number of breeding lines across the globe, which will promote the bacteria even more greatly. This bacteria has been known to cause problems such as bone infections in chickens. If this trend in bacteria spread is known to jump from humans to more types of livestock, this could potentially cause a significant rise in food security. With the globalization of the food market, once a strain of bacteria is found in a livestock, the bacteria may have spread across continents already. Further research is now conducted to test more emerging bacteria jumping from humans to other livestock.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152810.htm