Johns Hopkins: And working in an industrial poultry-processing facility can be bad for everyone

A December 2007 study by Johns Hopkins reports that workers in US poultry processing facilities bring antibiotic-resistant bacteria home with them, and that this may be one of the primary ways in which these bacterial strains are spread into the local communities and beyond.

Their results and conclusions:

"Poultry workers had 32 times the odds of carrying gentamicin-resistant E. coli compared with community referents. The poultry workers were also at significantly increased risk of carrying multidrug-resistant E. coli. Occupational exposure to antimicrobial-resistant E. coli from live-animal contact in the broiler chicken industry may be an important route of entry for antimicrobial-resistant E. coli into the community."