23.07.2015

Davis et al (2015) Clinical Infectious Diseases

Classic foodborne bacterial pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter species, and diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, have driven most food-safety science and policy to date. However, the bacterial species that contaminate meat products extend well beyond these “usual suspects”. Today, it is increasingly recognized that colonizing opportunistic pathogens such as extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, Enterococcus species, and Clostridium difficile may also be transmitted from food animals to humans via retail meat. 
Chicken, turkey and pork sold in grocery stores harbors disease-causing bacteria known as Klebsiella pneumoniae, according to a new study. The research, which was published online today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, shows that contaminated meat may be an important source of human exposure to Klebsiella.
This study is the first to suggest that consumers can be exposed to potentially dangerous Klebsiella from contaminated meat. 
To better understand potential contributions of foodborne Klebsiella pneumonia to human clinical infections, the multi-center research team compared K. pneumoniae isolates from retail meat products and human clinical specimens to assess their similarity based on whole genome sequencing. They first looked at turkey, chicken and pork products being sold in nine major grocery stores in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2012. Then the team analyzed urine and blood samples taken from Flagstaff area residents who were suffering from infections during the same time period. 
47 percent of the 508 meat products purchased from grocery stores in 2012 harbored Klebsiella--and many of the strains recovered were resistant to antibiotics. 
At the same time, the team found Klebsiella, including resistant strains, comprised 10 percent of the 1,728 positive cultures from patients with either urinary tract or blood infections in the Flagstaff area. The researchers used whole-genome DNA sequencing to compare theKlebsiella isolated from retail meat products with the Klebsiella isolated from patients and found that some isolate pairs were nearly identical. 
Increasing antibiotic resistance among Klebsiella poses serious public health threat. 
We tend to think of this organism as being one that individuals carry naturally, or acquire from the environment, this research suggests that we also can pick up these bacteria from the food we eat.