New type of colistin resistance also found in the Netherlands - Poultry - MCR-1

[Gert van der Hoek]

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[Gert van der Hoek]

December 17, 2015

The Central Veterinary Institute, part of Wageningen University (CVI) recently has found the transferable colistin resistance gene mcr-1 - described in China - in the Netherlands. In an initial screening of a large collection of salmonella (N = 3274) of the RIVM and NVWA from 2014 and 2015 derived primarily from sick people, farm animals and food, three colistin resistant strains that contain the transferable mcr-1 gene.

Detected: two Salmonella Paratyphi B variant Java strains originating from poultry slaughtered in the Netherlands and one S. Schwarz Grund from imported turkey meat. This shows that this resistance mechanism also occurs incidentally in the Netherlands, similar to the recent data from Denmark and the United Kingdom.

CVI is investigating in the coming weeks, the presence of the mcr-1 gene in a collection E. coli bacteria from farm animals (chickens, pigs, veal calves and dairy cows) from manure samples taken by the NVWA under national resistance monitoring in animals. This will make it possible to make a risk assessment.