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Study: Houseflies could contract E. coli from cattle

Infection Control Monitor, January 7, 2005

Researchers suggest that houseflies on cattle farms could potentially spread E. coli to humans, the American Society of Microbiology reports.

The study, reported in the December 2004 issue of Applied and Environmental Biology, concluded that houseflies carry virulent E. coli in the farm environment and may play an important role in the ecology and transmission of the pathogen among cattle, the farm, and urban environment.

According to researchers, E. coli's spread could be possible because it might be found in the intestinal tracts of cattle, whose environment frequently attracts large populations of houseflies.

In the study, researchers gathered houseflies from the feed bunks of cattle on a farm in Kansas from June through October 2003. Every batch of houseflies they collected contained E. coli, with 90% of the isolates containing genes indicating highly virulent strains.

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