Bad News For Cheese Lovers: Eating Emmental Could Be Fueling Deadly Antibiotic Resistance

• Antibiotic resistance is deemed to be one of the biggest threats to humanity
• Consuming cheese made from raw milk could be contributing to the problem
• Swiss researchers have found a new antibiotic resistant gene in dairy cows
• Methicillin resistant genes would create deadly MRSA if transferred to humans
• However, the bacteria it is found on is not known to cause disease in humans

Before you tuck into your Emmental this evening, be aware of its potential side effects.

Consuming cheese made from raw milk could be contributing to deadly antibiotic resistance, a controversial study has found.

Deemed to be one of the biggest threats to humanity, the issue has previously been cited as severe as terrorism and global warming.

The resistance crisis is causing usually harmless infections to turn into deadly superbugs that don't respond to a range of medications.

And now Swiss researchers have identified a new antibiotic resistant gene in dairy cows that could exacerbate the problem.

Known as Macrococcus caseolyticus, the seemingly harmless bacteria is naturally found on the skin of dairy cows and can be spread during milking.

Yet one of the strain's genes, known as mecD, could jeopardise the reserve of drugs used to treat MRSA, University of Bern scientists claim.

The methicillin resistant gene may turn Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria found on human skin, into the deadly superbug, the scientists claim.

The superbug, which cannot be killed using conventional antibiotics, infects at least 800 people in England a year, the latest figures show.

Rates are falling but more than a quarter of patients die within 30 days of being infected, the NHS believes.

However, M. caseolyticus is not known to cause disease in humans, according to the study in Scientific Reports.

The strain of bacteria is usually killed off in pasteurisation, meaning milk drinkers aren't at risk - but it can stay in raw dairy products.

The researchers are concerned that if the bacteria was able to transfer the gene to humans, then a new stronger form of MRSA could emerge.

Lead author Vincent Perreten said: 'It is imperative to keep an eye on the evolution and spread of this novel resistance gene in both human and animal bacteria.'

Commenting on the study, Coilin Nunan of advocacy group Alliance to Save our Antibiotics said: 'The finding emphasises the need for far better MRSA surveillance in UK livestock and for reduced use of antibiotics in farming.'



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its not only cheese, it's all animal source food that ad been treated with antibiotics in the wrong manner