Friendly bugs to wipe out 0157


19 February 2001



Friendly bugs to wipe out 0157


DEADLY food poisoning bug E coli 0157 could be eliminated by feeding cattle with “friendly bacteria”, reports the Financial Times.

This could eradicate harmful germs from the animals gut, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was told.

Experiments at the University of Georgia removed 0157 by giving cattle probiotic cultures of other E coli strains harmless to people and animals.

An outbreak of food poisoning caused by 0157 killed 21 people in Scotland in 1996. The bug can also cause illness in people exposed to cattle manure of farms.

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