ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → News

Dangerous superbug can be transmitted from pigs to humans

If you needed yet another reason to eat less meat, here it is.

Fermin KoopbyFermin Koop
April 25, 2022 - Updated on April 26, 2022
in Animals, Environment, News, Science
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

Researchers studying the superbug Clostridioides difficile, which is considered one of the world’s major antibiotic resistance threats, have now found evidence of its genes in pigs and humans. This means the transmission of the pathogen is possible on a wider scale and that the genes that resist antibiotics can spread through an animal vector to humans.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons.

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that causes gut infection, triggering symptoms such as diarrhea and inflammation of the colon. It’s resistant to several antibiotics and some trains have genes that can cause extreme damage. It can be life-threatening for elderly patients who are getting antibiotics for other reasons.

It’s usually described as one of the world’s most significant antibiotic resistance threats. In 2017, there were an estimated 223,900 cases in hospitalized patients and 12,800 deaths in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In Canada, over 20,600 adults reported C. difficile infection between 2009 and 2015. The problem is only getting worse as the pathogen is slowly becoming more resistant to treatments against it.

Experts have warned repeatedly over antibiotics being overused on farm animals, which is one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance. In 2021, the UN released a statement with the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance asking to reduce the use of antimicrobials in food production and farm animals. The world is “rapidly heaving towards a tipping point,” the UN said back then.

“Our finding of multiple and shared resistance genes indicates that C. difficile is a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes that can be exchanged between animals and humans”, Semeh Bejaoui, study author, said in a statement. “This alarming discovery suggests that resistance to antibiotics can spread more widely than previously thought.”

A problematic superbug

C. difficile lives in people’s intestines as part of the balance of the digestive system, but its growth is controlled by other bacteria. The dangerous side of it comes because of antibiotics. When we take antibiotics, it destroys other bacteria in the gut as well as the infection it was targeting — including some useful bacteria. This can make drug-resistant C. difficile grow out of control and pose serious health problems.

Researchers at Copenhagen University and Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute wanted to identify whether strains of C. difficile known to have antibiotic-resisting genes, as well as toxin-producing ones, were present in pigs and humans — which would indicate that zoonotic transmission assists C. difficile in evolving into more dangerous forms.

They looked at samples of C. difficile obtained from pig farms in 2020 and 2021 in Denmark. Out of 514 pigs, 54 had the pathogen. It was more common in piglets and sows than in slaughter pigs. The researchers used genetic sequencing to isolate strains that had toxin-producing and drug-resistant genes. They found that 38 of the samples had at least one resistance gene.

RelatedPosts

Scientists taught pigs to use a joystick
If you want to learn how well a pig is doing, listen to its grunts
Tasmanian devil milk might be the secret weapon against superbugs we’ve been waiting for
AI can now tell us what a pig is feeling, based on their grunts

Then, they compared the results from the pigs to samples from human patients who had a C.difficile infection in the same time period. They found that 13 sequence types matched between the pigs and the humans, with an animal-associated strain, ST11, being the most common. In 16 cases, the ST11 strain was identical in humans and animals.

“The overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and as cheap production tools on farms is undoing our ability to cure bacterial infections,” Bejaoui said in a statement. “This study provides more evidence on the evolutionary pressure connected with the use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry, which selects for dangerously resistant human pathogens.”

The study was presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon

Tags: pigssuperbugs

ShareTweetShare
Fermin Koop

Fermin Koop

Fermin Koop is a reporter from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds an MSc from Reading University (UK) on Environment and Development and is specialized in environment and climate change news.

Related Posts

Genetics

This Superbug Learned How to Feed on Plastic from Hospitals

byMihai Andrei
1 month ago
Animals

AI can now tell us what a pig is feeling, based on their grunts

byAlexandru Micu
2 years ago
Diseases

Drug-resistant pathogens now kill over one million people per year — more than malaria

byFermin Koop
3 years ago
Animals

Scientists taught pigs to use a joystick

byTibi Puiu
4 years ago

Recent news

An Overlooked Hill in Bolivia Turned Out to Be One of the Andes’ Oldest Temples

July 2, 2025

One-Third of the World’s Scavengers are Disappearing And This Could Trigger a Human Health Crisis

July 2, 2025

Scientists Catch Two Wild Orcas “French Kissing” And It Might Mean More Than You Think

July 2, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.