I plan to review and analyze an article from the New England Journal of Medicine titled "The isolation of antibiotic-resistant salmonella from retail ground meats". The authors of the paper claim the emergence of antibiotic-resistant salmonella is related to the use of antibiotics in livestock raised for human consumption. The bacteria can then be transferred to humans through food, making it more difficult for treatment due to the bacteria's resistance to medicines. The authors of the paper planned to identify and characterize the strains of salmonella isolated from retail ground meats. .
Statement of Purpose .
The isolation, identification and characterization of antibiotic- resistant salmonella found in retail ground meats. The use of antibiotics in livestock raised for human consumption creates a Darwinian environment where the antibiotic-resistant salmonella would more likely be favored. Salmonella is the leading cause of food-borne illness. Almost 1.4 million people come down with salmonellosis each year in the United States alone. With the use of antibiotics in animals that will be used for human consumption, the chances of pathogens becoming more resistant to those antibiotics increase as stated in the infectious-disease report that was released by the World Health Organization in 2000. It is common to give livestock antibiotics to prevent, treat, and promote growth. This practice is a big reason in the emergence of resistant bacteria. With the increase of antimicrobial-resistant strains of salmonella also comes the increase of multi-drug resistant forms. .
The authors collected 200 meat samples of ground turkey, chicken, beef and pork from three local supermarkets in the Washington D.C. area. They isolated the different forms of salmonella by serotyping, antimicrobial-susceptibility testing, phage typing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. After isolating the salmonella they identified the resistant integrons and extended spectrum BETA-lactamase genes by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing.