Contact: Kelly Blake
kellyb@umd.edu
301-405-9418
University of Maryland

Percentage of Multi-drug Resistant Enterococci Bacteria from Conventional and Organic Poultry Houses

Caption: Multi-drug resistant bacteria are of particular public health concern because they can be resistant to all available antibiotics, and are therefore very difficult to treat if contracted by an animal or human. In this study, 42 percent of Enterococcus faecalis from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant, compared to only 10 percent from newly organic farms, and 84 percent of Enterococcus faecium from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant compared to 17 percent of those from newly organic farms.

Credit: Amy R. Sapkota, University of Maryland

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Related news release: Poultry farms that go organic have significantly fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria