WARNING SEAGULLS CARRY SUPERBUGS
FEEDING the seagulls is a long-established Aussie tradition but researchers have found the birds have the potential to infect humans with superbugs.
A team led by Murdoch University has found Australian silver gulls are infected with antimicrobial resistant bacteria that cause serious problems in humans, such as urinary tract infections and sepsis.
These resistant bacteria were similar to the ones causing disease in humans in hospitals, community and nursing homes.
Murdoch University antimicrobial researcher Sam Abraham, who led the investigation, said the problem was widespread.
The paper is released today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
“Seagulls act as ecological sponges or bio-accumulators and we have earmarked them as a potential reservoir for agents that may cause human disease,” Dr Abraham said. “This is the first comprehensive study establishing that seagulls are carriers of drug resistant disease-causing E. coli that could affect humans.”
The study revealed more than 20 per cent of seagulls tested around Australia were found to carry bacteria that were resistant to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, which are used antimicrobial drugs in humans.
Seabird ecologist Nic Dunlop said this could affect livestock and agriculture.
“Humans are now transmitting their pathogens to commensal wildlife around Australia’s major cities and these drug resistant microbes are likely to be returned with interest through contaminated surfaces, water and food,” Dr Dunlop said.
NSW Department of Primary Industries, the University of Adelaide and Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut were research collaborators.