fresh chicken anyone, page-5

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 - Americans sickened by chicken contaminated
with salmonella and campylobacter may stay ill longer and pay more for treatment
due to virulent strains of the bacteria that resist common antibiotics, Consumers
Union said on Tuesday.

U.S. farmers have long used antibiotics to prevent contagious diseases in
livestock grown for food and to increase growth. Consumers Union and other
critics believe routinely feeding powerful antibiotics to livestock -- along with
overuse of the drugs in humans -- is producing bacteria that are more difficult to
treat.

In a nationwide analysis of brand-name poultry, the nonprofit publisher of
Consumer Reports magazine found 90 percent of the campylobacter found in the
poultry was resistant to one or more commonly used antibiotics, including
tetracycline and erythromycin. Of the chickens with salmonella, 34 percent were
resistant to antibiotics.

"Doctors may have to prescribe several antibiotics before finding one that
works," said Doug Podolsky, senior editor of the magazine. "And patients may
have to pay more to be treated."

The findings, published in the Consumer Report's January issue, were part of a
larger study on the prevalence of salmonella and campylobacter in chicken. The
bugs, which infect more than 1.1 million Americans annually, can cause fever,
diarrhea and abdominal cramps.