Scientists signal bacteria issue for animal handlers

Bacteria has the ability to jump between species more easily than previously thought, according to scientists at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The researchers said their findings have major implications for how the risk of bacterial diseases passing from humans to animals is assessed.

The study focused on a strain of bacteria passed from humans to rabbits.

Prof Ross Fitzgerald, of the Roslin Institute, who worked on the study, said: “Domestication of animals, industrialisation of agriculture and globalisation have provided new opportunities for the transmission of bacteria between humans and animals.

“This latest research has important public and veterinary health implications which will require a re-examination of the future threat posed by bacterial host switching events.”

The researchers said the findings should be of “major concern to vets and public health professionals”.

They said the staphylococcus aureus ST121 is usually harmless but can cause a variety of conditions from minor skin infections to meningitis and sepsis.

In rabbits however, the bacteria can cause serious skin infections and is responsible for spreading disease epidemics within the rabbit farming industry.