Study Shows Flies Can Pass Salmonella to Chickens

Study Shows Flies Can Pass Salmonella to Chickens
Scientists say the common house fly is a threat to safety of poultry products. Transcript of radio broadcast:
31 March 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The common housefly is unwelcome around food because flies can carry disease-causing germs. Now, scientists have shown that the insects can also spread food poisoning bacteria to chickens in poultry houses. As a result, they say flies are a threat to the safety of poultry products.

Peter Holt and Christopher Geden of the United States Department of Agriculture did a study with Salmonella bacteria. Chickens infected with Salmonella do not get sick, but they can pass the infection to humans through undercooked meat or eggs.

Cases can be mild or severe, or even deadly. The greatest risk is to the old and very young and to people with weak immune systems.

The researchers investigated whether infected hens could pass the infection to flies. They also investigated whether those flies could then infect healthy chickens. The research was described last month in the Agriculture Department magazine Agricultural Research.

Peter Holt put uninfected chickens in individual laying cages next to each other in a room. Then Christopher Geden brought in young flies two days away from becoming flying adults. He placed them in an open box in the room with the chickens.

Three days later, the chickens were given Salmonella in their drinking water and became infected. Soon, about half the house flies had Salmonella in and on their bodies. The scientists used a dissecting microscope to cut the insects apart for study. The number of flies with Salmonella stayed at fifty percent or more for several days.

Next, the researchers placed the newly infected flies near healthy, uninfected hens. The scientists observed that just being near the infected flies did not infect the hens. But many of the hens did get infected when they ate the flies.

The bacteria grew in the intestines of close to forty percent of the birds. The crop, a small part in the digestive system that stores predigested food, was mostly free of Salmonella.

Peter Holt says there is much more to learn about the relationship between Salmonella, flies and poultry. But he says the study shows that growers need to be especially careful to control flies.

The findings show that Salmonella bacteria may not spread around the henhouse by simple physical contact. Instead, eating infected flies seems to be the main way for Salmonella to pass from flies to birds.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts and MP3s of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.


----------------------------Google Translate
研究表明，果蝇可以通过沙门氏菌鸡
科学家说，这项共同家蝇是一种威胁，以安全的家禽产品。全文电台广播：
2008年3月31日

这是美国之音特别英语农业部报告。

普通家蝇是不受欢迎围绕食品，因为苍蝇可携带致病细菌。现在，科学家已经证明，这种昆虫也能传播食物中毒的细菌，以鸡禽舍。因此，他们说苍蝇是一个威胁安全的家禽产品。

彼得霍尔特和克里斯托弗和吉登的美国农业部做了研究与沙门氏杆菌等病菌。鸡感染沙门氏菌不生病，但他们可以通过感染给人类经由未肉或蛋。

案件，可以轻微或严重的，甚至是致命的。最大的风险是老人和幼童和向意志薄弱者的免疫系统。

研究人员调查了，是否被感染鸡可通过感染果蝇。他们还调查是否这些苍蝇，然后传染给健康鸡。这项研究是描述上个月在农业部杂志农业研究。

彼得霍尔特提出未受感染鸡只个体铺设笼子旁边，对方在一个房间里。当时克里斯托弗和吉登带来年轻苍蝇两天远离成为飞行的成年人。他把他们在一个开放的盒子在房间内与鸡。

三天后，鸡沙门氏菌给他们饮水，并成为感染。很快，大约有一半的房子苍蝇了沙门氏菌，并就他们的身体。科学家们用了一个解剖显微镜削减昆虫除了研究。有多少苍蝇与沙门氏菌停留在百分之五十或以上的数天。

接下来，研究人员把新感染苍蝇近健康的，未受感染的母鸡。科学家们观察到，就被附近的苍蝇感染并不会感染母鸡。但许多母鸡没有被感染时，他们吃了苍蝇。

细菌生长的肠子都接近百分之四十的鸟类。农作物，其中一小部分，在消化系统，可以储存简化食物，大部分是免费的沙门氏菌。

彼得霍尔特说，还会有更多了解的关系，沙门氏菌，苍蝇和家禽。但是他说，这项研究显示，种植者必须特别小心，以控制苍蝇。

调查结果显示，沙门氏细菌可能不会传播到henhouse通过简单的身体接触。相反，食用受感染果蝇似乎已成为主要方式，为沙门氏菌通过从苍蝇到鸟类。

这也是该美国之音特别英语农业部报告，写jerilyn沃森。誊本和MP3音乐的，我们报告是在voaspecialenglish.com 。我史蒂夫Ember公司。