Avian flu aficionados. Here’s something new to worry about. Apparently cars driving behind trucks carrying chickens to the slaughterhouse were found to be teeming with poultry bacteria…
Next time you’ve just cruised down the interstate behind a truck full of chickens or Thanksgiving turkeys, you just might want to wash your car. This, because a study led by a team of Johns Hopkins scientists finds that tailgating such feathered cargo can significantly increase your exposure to poultry-borne bacteria. A report was posted in the premier issue of "The Journal of Infection and Public Health," which will publish research on the epidemiology, prevention and control of infectious disease.
In the study, test cars followed poultry trucks as they traveled from farm to slaughterhouse. After these road trips, researchers discovered that the interiors of cars that had their windows down were teeming with a wide variety of bacteria. And many of the bacteria were strains known to be resistant to several common antibiotics. In this age of avian influenza and antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs,’ scientists are exploring all possible pathways of disease between humans and animals. This case shows just one way to keep from being exposed to pathogens that can cause you harm. This article was gleamed from Scientific American.
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