Paul Wigley, Professor of Avian Infection and Immunity at the University of Liverpool, said: “The results of the FSA study are of little surprise. Campylobacter infection is endemic in chicken production and similar levels are found in other EU countries with large poultry industries.

“Although the FSA and poultry producers take the problem seriously, the biology of this bug makes its control extremely difficult. Whilst a few hundred bacteria can make someone ill, chickens may carry many millions of the bug with relatively little disease.

“Our understanding of the behaviour of the bacterium in the environment and how its spreads into chicken production are poorly understood and despite its importance we know surprisingly little of how it behaves in the chicken.

“The controls that have been very successful in reducing Salmonella levels in chicken including good hygiene practice and biosecurity are less effective for Campylobacter. Most importantly we do not have a vaccine for Campylobacter, something which has been key to the reduction of Salmonella in chicken production over the last 20 years.

“We clearly know the extent of the problem and that the bug is common in all forms of chicken production including organic and free range production.  Whilst some of the solutions, such as surface chilling, may be beneficial in the short term, longer term we need investment in more effective controls, such as vaccines.

“In the meantime the advice on handling and cooking poultry from FSA should be followed to reduce the risk from this nasty bug.”

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The University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, have revealed the emergence of a novel strain of Typhoid fever in Malawi, Africa.

The team has completed two genomics studies on the tropical disease, a condition that is estimated to cause up to 30 million illnesses and over a quarter of a million deaths globally each year.

The first study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, suggests that the H58-strain, which is likely to have emerged in Asia approximately thirty years ago, is now rapidly spreading across Africa, where it has been introduced on several separate occasions. A key feature of this strain appears to be its ability to acquire resistance to commonly available antibiotics.

Genetic package

Dr Melita Gordon, from the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health, said: “Importantly, the antibiotic resistance genes, which have previously been carried on a separate genetic package, have now been incorporated into the main chromosome of the bacteria itself, which is likely to make it easier for the Typhoid strain to retain these resistance genes.”

Data from the microbiology laboratory at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme, where bloodstream infections have been monitored for 18 years, show that an epidemic of Typhoid fever began in Malawi in 2011.

In a related study, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the team has investigated the epidemic and the re-emergence of the disease in Malawi by studying the genomes of the bacteria.

Large epidemic

Genomic data from the Malawi strains reveals that up until 2009 no H58 strains were found, and other local strains of Salmonella Typhi were fully sensitive to the antibiotics used locally.

After 2010, a large number of different strains, however, appeared in Blantyre, competing for dominance. H58 emerged as the most successful strain, triggering a large epidemic in which up to 800 cases occurred per year, with a 3% case fatality.

Dr Nick Feasey, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine said: “The rise of antibiotic resistance among Salmonellae in Africa is a major threat and concern. Not only does it mean that individuals cannot always be effectively treated, but it also appears to make global spread and large epidemics more likely.”

Liverpool scientists are now conducting further work at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, funded by a £4 million Strategic Award from the Wellcome Trust, as part of a team led by the University of Oxford Vaccine Group, to investigate the best ways to use future vaccines to halt the spread of multidrug resistant Typhoid fever in Africa.

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